Restoring the balance in coagulation to improve the outcome of Staphylococcus aureus infection

The epidemic of antibiotic resistance is currently posing a serious threat to our health system. It is estimated that by 2050 over 300 million people will die prematurely as a cause of resistant bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is the leader of antimicrobial resistance and the most deadly infectious agent in the developed world. This pathogen is a frequent colonizer of the skin in healthy individuals, but when our immune system fails S. aureus can gain access to the blood circulation and cause a deadly infection called endocarditis. Despite recent progresses in medical technology over the last decades, still one in three patients do not survive S. aureus endocarditis. In this project, we study the complex interplay between S. aureus, coagulation and the innate immune system in infective endocarditis. To do so, several mutants of S. aureus are tested in a new mouse model of infective endocarditis and various host factors are targeted in this model. This new mouse model enables us to study the involvement of bacterial- and host-related factors in both the acute and chronic phase of infective endocarditis and will provide some important targets to manage this devastating disease.