Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Engineered protein effective against Staphylococcus aureus toxin

A research team led by the University of Illinois has developed a treatment for exposure to enterotoxin B, a noxious substance produced by the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium. The team engineered a protein, which was successfully tested in rabbits, that could one day be used to treat humans exposed to the enterotoxin.

S. aureus enterotoxin B (SEB) is a common cause of food poisoning, but if it is inhaled or produced during an infection it can elicit a systemic – and sometimes fatal – immune response in humans. In purified form, SEB is listed as a potential bioterrorism agent. Other potent S. aureus enterotoxins include the toxic shock syndrome toxin.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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