Publication details

Importance of Propionibacterium acnes hemolytic activity in human intervertebral discs: A microbiological study

Authors

CAPOOR Manu RŮŽIČKA Filip SANDHU Gurpreet ROLLASON Jess MAVROMMATIS Konstantinos FAHAD AHMED externista SCHMITZ Jonathan E. RAZ Assaf BRUGGEMANN Holger LAMBERT Peter A. FISCHETTI Vincent A. SLABÝ Ondřej

Year of publication 2018
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Plos one
MU Faculty or unit

Central European Institute of Technology

Citation
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208144
Keywords Propionibacterium acnes
Description Most patients with chronic lower back pain (CLBP) exhibit degenerative disc disease. Disc specimens obtained during initial therapeutic discectomies are often infected/colonized with Propionibacterium acnes, a Gram-positive commensal of the human skin. Although pain associated with infection is typically ascribed to the body's inflammatory response, the Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus was recently observed to directly activate nociceptors by secreting pore-forming alpha-hemolysins that disrupt neuronal cell membranes. The hemolytic activity of P. acnes in cultured disc specimens obtained during routine therapeutic discectomies was assessed through incubation on sheep-blood agar. The beta-hemolysis pattern displayed by P. acnes on sheep-blood agar was variable and phylogroup-dependent. Their molecular phylogroups were correlated with their hemolytic patterns. Our findings raise the possibility that pore-forming proteins contribute to the pathogenesis and/or symptomology of chronic P. acnes disc infections and CLBP, at least in a subset of cases.

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