Pneumococcal meningitis: do bacteria hijack their way into the human body?
Research archive
- Women and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, Australia
- Researchers:
Dr Anne Berry
- Project Number: 0106.0
- Category: Prevention
- Duration: 2002-2005
- Start Date: 01 January 2002
- Type: Lay summary
- View scientific version
In order to cause disease, pneumococcal bacteria have to colonise and then penetrate the lining of the nose and throat. This project aims to find out how the bacteria stick to this lining and then break through it. First of all, the researchers will see whether pneumococcal bacteria latch onto particular components in the lining in order to colonise the nose and throat. Then they will find out if the bacteria can hijack one of the body's own defensive chemicals, called plasminogen, to rupture the lining of the nose and throat and enter the bloodstream.
We know that once it is activated, plasminogen is converted to plasmin, an enzyme that breaks down certain natural human proteins and has an important function within the body as a blood clot buster. Pneumococcal bacteria may be able to capture plasminogen and activate it, turning its destructive potential on the delicate membrane lining the nose and throat. Once plasmin has broken holes in this membrane, the bacteria would be able to invade the bloodstream and cause disease.
By exploring the early stages in the mechanism of pneumococcal infection, scientists hope to pinpoint targets for new prevention strategies against this deadly disease.