Publication Date:
1999-02-05
Description:
Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer, a severe human skin disease that occurs primarily in Africa and Australia. Infection with M. ulcerans results in persistent severe necrosis without an acute inflammatory response. The presence of histopathological changes distant from the site of infection suggested that pathogenesis might be toxin mediated. A polyketide-derived macrolide designated mycolactone was isolated that causes cytopathicity and cell cycle arrest in cultured L929 murine fibroblasts. Intradermal inoculation of purified toxin into guinea pigs produced a lesion similar to that of Buruli ulcer in humans. This toxin may represent one of a family of virulence factors associated with pathology in mycobacterial diseases such as leprosy and tuberculosis.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉George, K M -- Chatterjee, D -- Gunawardana, G -- Welty, D -- Hayman, J -- Lee, R -- Small, P L -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1999 Feb 5;283(5403):854-7.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9933171" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Bacterial Toxins/chemistry/*isolation & purification/*toxicity
;
Cell Cycle/drug effects
;
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
;
Chromatography, Thin Layer
;
Female
;
Guinea Pigs
;
L Cells (Cell Line)
;
Macrolides
;
Mass Spectrometry
;
Mice
;
Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous/microbiology/pathology
;
Mycobacterium ulcerans/chemistry/*pathogenicity
;
Necrosis
;
Skin/microbiology/pathology
;
Skin Diseases, Bacterial/microbiology/pathology
;
Virulence
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
