Fibronectin is elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with bacterial meningitis and enhances Toll-like receptor induced inflammation in primary mouse microglial cell cult…

Objectives: Toll-like receptors (TLR) play a key role in the recognition of products from virtually all classes of pathogenic organisms. Fibronectin, an extracellular matrix (ECM) protein, is discussed to be a potent stimulator of the innate immune system through Toll-like-receptor 4. In central nervous system (CNS) infections several ECM proteins and bacterial compounds are elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). For this reason, we hypothetized that endogenous and pathogen-derived molecules may jointly stimulate the innate immune system and increase the neuronal damage in bacterial meningitis. Methods: Leve…