Targeting Immunothrombosis in Staphylococcus aureus infections and endocarditis

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is the deadliest infectious agent, and its increasing antibiotic resistance has urged the WHO to proclaim it as a top research priority. In contrast to other infections, infective endocarditis (IE) remains highly fatal despite advances in clinical care. With an increasing incidence and unacceptably high mortality, there is an urgent need to understand how IE differs from other infections, and how the vegetation, the central lesion of IE, truly develops. It is known that IE is the result of an interaction of the host coagulation and immune system, and bacterial factors. However, several methodological barriers have hindered the detailed understanding of central concepts, sorely needed to improve outcome.Our group has been working for almost ten years to combine those fields of expertise, developing innovative in vitro and in vivo models, and establishing collaborations. The current project builds on the previous work to use these novel models in looking at actionable factors in S. aureus IE pathogenesis, opening up new ways to treat this highly fatal disease.

Keywords:Staphylococcus aureus, Endocarditis, Thrombosis, Infection, von Willebrand factor

Disciplines:Cardiology