Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

A plague upon the phagocytes

Nature Medicine volume 11, pages 927–928 (2005)Cite this article

Plague bacteria are renowned for causing some of the most devastating epidemics in human history. We are now closer to understanding why: the pathogen selectively disarms key cells of the innate immune system, weakening the front-line defenses of the body.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Plague bacteria selectively target key cells of the innate immune system during infection by injecting Yops (Yersinia outer proteins).

Katie Ris

References

  1. Perry, R.D. & Fetherston, J.D. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 10, 35–66 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Butler, T. in Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases 5th edn. (eds. Mandell, G.L. et al.) 2406–2414 (Churchill Livingstone, Philadelphia, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Marketon, M.M., et al. Science, published online 28 July 2005 (10.1126/science.1114580).

  4. Overheim, K.A., et al. Infect. Immun. 73, 5152–5159 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Cornelis, G.R. J. Cell Biol. 158, 401–408 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Une, T. & Brubaker, R.R. J. Immunol. 133, 2226–2230 (1984).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Motin, V.M. et al. Infect. Immun. 62, 4192–4201 (1994).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Leary, S.E. et al. Infect Immun. 63, 2854–2858 (1995).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Anderson, G.W. et al. Infect. Immun. 64, 4580–4585 (1996).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Heath, D.G. et al. Vaccine 16, 1131–1137 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Brubaker, R.R. Infect. Immun. 71, 3673–3681 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Bliska, J.B. et al. Infect. Immun. 61, 3914–3921 (1993).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Young, V.B. et al. J. Cell. Biol. 116, 197–207 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis,

    Frank R DeLeo & B Joseph Hinnebusch

  2. Laboratory of Zoonotic Pathogens, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, 59840, Montana, USA

    Frank R DeLeo & B Joseph Hinnebusch

Authors
  1. Frank R DeLeo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B Joseph Hinnebusch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

DeLeo, F., Hinnebusch, B. A plague upon the phagocytes. Nat Med 11, 927–928 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0905-927

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0905-927

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing