Background: Streptococcus suis serotype 2 (SS2), a major swine pathogen and an emerging zoonotic agent, has greatly challenged global public health. Systematical information about host immune response to the infection is important for understanding the molecular mechanism of diseases.
Results: 104 and 129 unique genes were significantly up-regulated and down-regulated in the spleens of pigs infected with SS2 (WT). The up-regulated genes were principally related to immune response, such as genes involved in inflammatory response; acute-phase/immune response; cell adhesion and response to stress. The down-regulated genes were mainly involved in transcription, transport, material and energy metabolism which were representative of the reduced vital activity of SS2-influenced cells. Only a few genes showed significantly differential expression when comparing avirulent isogenic strain (ΔHP0197) with mock-infected samples.
Conclusions: Our findings indicated that highly pathogenic SS2 could persistently induce cytokines mainly by Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) pathway, and the phagocytosis-resistant bacteria could induce high level of cytokines and secrete toxins to destroy deep tissues, and cause meningitis, septicaemia, pneumonia, endocarditis, and arthritis.