S. Hirayama

Extracellular pneumolysin enhances the activation of cytosolic pattern-recognition receptor NOD2 through its pore-forming activity

ABSTRACT Streptococcus pneumoniae is the leading cause of community-acquired pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis. This bacterium produces pneumolysin, a cholesterol-dependent cytolysin that forms oligomeric transmembrane pores in the host cells. Although pneumolysin is known to exhibit proinflammatory properties, the mec...