Roles of oral bacteria in cardiovascular diseases--from molecular mechanisms to clinical cases: Cell-surface structures of novel serotype k Streptococcus mutans strains and their correlation to virulence - PubMed (original) (raw)

Review

doi: 10.1254/jphs.09r24fm. Epub 2010 May 24.

Affiliations

Free article

Review

Roles of oral bacteria in cardiovascular diseases--from molecular mechanisms to clinical cases: Cell-surface structures of novel serotype k Streptococcus mutans strains and their correlation to virulence

Kazuhiko Nakano et al. J Pharmacol Sci. 2010.

Free article

Abstract

Streptococcus mutans is generally known as a pathogen of dental caries, and it is also considered to cause bacteremia and infective endocarditis (IE). S. mutans was previously classified into 3 serotypes, c, e, and f, due to the different chemical compositions of the serotype-specific polysaccharides, which are composed of a rhamnose backbone and glucose side chains. We recently designated non-c/e/f serotype S. mutans strains as novel serotype k, which is characterized by a drastic reduction in the amount of the glucose side chain. A common biological feature of novel serotype-k strains is a lower level of cariogenicity due to alterations of several major cell surface protein antigens. As for virulence in blood, these strains survive in blood for a longer duration due to lower antigenicity, while the detection rate of all strains carrying the gene encoding collagen-binding adhesin has been shown to be high. Furthermore, molecular biological analyses of infected heart valve specimens obtained from IE patients revealed a high detection rate of serotype-k S. mutans. Together, these findings suggest that serotype-k S. mutans strains show low cariogenicity but high virulence in blood as compared to the other serotypes, due to alterations of several cell surface structures.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources