Activation of Heme Oxygenase Expression by Cobalt Protoporphyrin Treatment Prevents Pneumonic Plague Caused by Inhalation of Yersinia pestis.

ABSTRACT: Pneumonic plague, caused by the Gram-negative bacteria Yersinia pestis, is an invasive, rapidly progressing disease with poor survival rates. Following inhalation of Y. pestis, bacterial invasion of the lungs and a tissue-damaging inflammatory response allows vascular spread of the infection. Consequently, primary pneumonic plague is a multiorgan disease involving sepsis and necrosis of immune tissues and the liver, as well as bronchopneumonia and rampant bacterial growth. Given the likely role of the hyperinflammatory response in accelerating the destruction of tissue, in this work we evaluated the therapeutic potential of the inducible cytoprotective enzyme heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) against primary pneumonic plague. On its own, the HO-1 inducer cobalt protoporphyrin IX (CoPP) provided mice

SUBMITTER: Willix JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7179272 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature