title: Lethal toxin of Clostridium sordellii is associated with fatal equine atypical myopathy.
abstract: The lethal toxin of Clostridium sordellii (TcsL) evokes severe, mostly fatal disease patterns like toxic shock syndrome in humans and animals. Since this large clostridial toxin-induced severe muscle damaging when injected intramuscularly into mice, we hypothesized that TcsL is also associated with equine atypical myopathy (EAM), a fatal myodystrophy of hitherto unknown etiology. Transmission electron microscopy revealed skeletal and heart muscles of EAM-affected horses to undergo degeneration ultrastructurally similar to the damage found in TcsL-treated mice. Performing immunohistochemistry, myofibers of EAM-affected horses specifically reacted with sera derived from horses with EAM as well as an antibody specific for the N-terminal part of TcsL, while both antibodies failed to bind to the myofibers of either healthy horses or those with other myopathies. The presence of TcsL in myofibers of horses with EAM suggests that it plays a role as trigger or even as lethal factor in this disease.
authors.affiliation: Equine Clinic, Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Unger-Torroledo
authors.forename: Reto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Straub
authors.forename: Andrea D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Lehmann
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Graber
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stahl
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Frey
authors.forename: Vinzenz
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gerber
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hoppeler
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Baum
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D047989:Paraclostridium sordellii / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D006736:Horses; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; C072292:lethal toxin LT, Clostridium sordellii