Intermedilysin Is Essential for the Invasion of Hepatoma HepG2 Cells by Streptococcus intermedius

Streptococcus intermedius causes endogenous infections leading to abscesses. This species produces intermedilysin (ILY), a human‐specific cytolysin. Because of the significant correlation between higher ILY production levels by S. intermedius and deep‐seated abscesses, we constructed ily knockout mutant UNS38 B3 and complementation strain UNS38 B3R1 in order to investigate the role of ILY in deep‐seated infections. Strain UNS38 reduced the viability of human liver cell line HepG2 at infection but not of rat liver cell line BRL3A. Isogenic mutant strain UNS38 B3 was not cytotoxic in either cell line. Quantification of S. intermedius revealed that in infected HepG2 cells UNS38 but not UNS38 B3 increased intracellularly concomitantly with increasing cell damage. This difference between UNS38 and UNS38 B3 was not observed with UNS38 B3R1. Invasion and proliferation in BRL3A cells was not observed. Masking UNS38 or UNS38 B3R1 with ILY antibody drastically decreased adherence and invasion of HepG2. Moreover, coating strain UNS38 B3 with ILY partially restored adherence to HepG2 but without subsequent bacterial growth. At 1 day post‐infection, many intact UNS38 were detected in the damaged phagosomes of HepG2 with bacterial proliferation observed in the cytoplasm of dead HepG2 after an additional 2 day incubation. These results indicate that surface‐bound ILY on S. intermedius is an important factor for invasion of human cells by this bacterium and that secretion of ILY within host cells is essential for subsequent host cell death. These data strongly implicate ILY as an important factor in the pathogenesis of abscesses in vivo by this streptococcus.