Proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine modulation by Streptococcus suis in a whole-blood culture system

Abstract Streptococcus suis is an important swine and human pathogen. Inflammation, a hallmark of S. suis infection, is thought to be responsible for most clinical signs of meningitis, septicaemia and sudden death. In this work, using a porcine whole blood model, S. suis serotype 2 was shown to trigger the release of several pro-inflammatory cytokines as evaluated by reverse transcriptase-PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Although individual variations were observed among different S. suis strains, no correlations were observed between the strain origin/phenotype and cytokine levels. Live bacteria induced higher tumour necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and IL-6 levels than did heat-killed bacteria. In contrast, heat-killed bacteria stimulated higher levels of IL-8 and monocyte chemotactic protein one (MCP-1). The bacterial cell wall was observed to be the major cytokine-inducting components, whereas capsule expression was important for MCP-1 activation. The presence of specific antibodies suppressed bacterial growth resulting in significantly reduced levels of cytokine production. Thus, antibody-mediated bacterial phagocytosis combined with suppressed inflammation may be beneficial for infection control strategies. We provide first evidence of S.suis-induction of pro-inflammatory swine cytokines and demonstrate the strength and relevance of the whole blood culture systems in the investigation of S. suis modulation of cytokine production.