Clostridium Perfringens Alpha Toxin Inhibits Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor

Clostridium perfringens is a gram-positive spore-forming anaerobic bacteria. C. perfringens is one of the most common causes of food poisoning illness and has a high mortality rate. As a growth factor, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor helps immune system maintain the balanced numbers of neutrophils when we are infected by pathogens. Clostridium perfringens alpha toxin promotes the formation of G-CSF. During the bacterial infection, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is sensed through a Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88)-dependent pathway. This leads to the increased secretion of G-CSF into the systemic circulation which accelerated the proliferation and differentiation of neutrophils. However, Clostridium perfringens impairs the granulopoiesis by decreasing the surface expression of neutrophil Ly6G+. The study will use mice, which were separate into positive control groups with C. perfringens injection and negative control group with phosphate-buffered saline. Employing a variety of procedures and methods, in vivo, such as FACS and ELISA, the paper investigates whether C. perfringens alpha toxin would inhibit granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, impairing granulopoiesis and inhibiting G-CSF-mediated cell proliferation of Ly6G+ neutrophils in a productive and effective way.