Protection against experimental Staphylococcus aureus arthritis by vaccination with clumping factor A, a novel virulence determinant

The importance of the fibrinogen-binding adhesin clumping factor A (ClfA) in the pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus septic arthritis was examined in an animal model. The protective effect of active and passive immunization with ClfA also was investigated in S. aureus infection models. The severity of arthritis was markedly reduced in mice challenged intravenously with a clfA mutant, compared with mice infected with the wild-type strain. Mice immunized with recombinant ClfA and challenged with S. aureus developed less-severe arthritis than did mice immunized with a control antigen. Passive immunization of mice with rat and rabbit anti-ClfA antibodies protected against S. aureus arthritis and sepsis-induced death, indicating that the protection by active immunization is antibody mediated. Taken together, these data strongly suggest that ClfA is a crucial virulence determinant for septic arthritis and an excellent target for the generation of immune therapies directed against S. aureus.