Upregulation of CBP by PLY can cause permeability of blood-brain barrier to increase meningitis.

Background Streptococcus pneumoniae causes many human diseases including bacterial meningitis. Previous study proposed that pneumolysin (PLY), a cytotoxin from pneumococcus, is related to the infection across blood-brain barrier (BBB). However, the mechanism of how PLY break through BBB remains elusive. The present study showed that PLY can increase the permeability of BBB both in vitro and in vivo in our experiments. Results Further we found out that PLY leads to the high expression of CERB-binding protein (CBP) which can lead to releasing of tumor necrosis factor alpha then enhance apoptosis of cells which is a significant factor leading to permeabilization of BBB. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate that CBP plays an important role in the pneumococcus infection in the brain and could be a potential therapeutic target against pneumococcal meningitis.