The plasma proteins of the complement system are essential in the innate immune response against bacteria. Complement labels bacteria with opsonins to support phagocytosis and generates chemo-attractants to attract phagocytes to the site of infection. In turn, bacterial human pathogens have evolved different strategies to specifically impair the complement response. Staphylococcus aureus secretes a number of small proteins that interfere with several steps of the complement cascade, thereby ascertaining efficient complement evasion. We recently demonstrated for the first time that S. aureus complement inhibitors contribute to bacterial pathogenesis in vivo and thus can be qualified as important virulence factors in Staphylococcal infections. Bacterial complement evasion molecules provide us with new tools to treat both infectious and inflammatory diseas conditions in humans.
Dr. Suzan Rooijakkers received her PhD in medical microbiology. In 2005 she started her postdoctoral training at the University Medical Center Utrecht where she focused her interest on Staphylococcal complement evasion. Since 2008, Dr. Rooijakkers is a fellow at the Department of Pharmacology and Drug Discovery (University of San Diego), supported by a long term fellowship of the European Molecular Biology Organization.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Barbara M. Bröker