Kaitlyn Clark

Staphylococcus aureus is a human commensal that colonizes the skin. While it is normally innocuous, it has strong associations with atopic dermatitis pathogenesis, and has become the leading cause of skin and soft tissue infections in the USA. The factors that dictate the role of S. aureus in disease are still being determined. In this work, we utilized primary keratinocyte culture and an epidermal murine colonization model to investigate the role of S. aureus phenol soluble modulins (PSMs) on pro-inflammatory cytokine release and inflammation induction. We demonstrated that many species of Staphylococcus are capable of causing release of IL-18 from keratinocytes and that S. aureus PSMs are necessary and sufficient to stimulate IL-18 release from keratinocytes independent of caspase-1. Further, after seven days of epicutaneous exposure to wild type S. aureus, but not Δpsm S. aureus, we saw dramatic changes in gross pathology as well as systemic release of pro-inflammatory cytokines....