PHENOL-SOLUBLE MODULINS: ARE THEY MAIN ACTORS IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF THE Staphylococcus Aureus? (IN SPANISH)

Introduction: The infections by S. aureus threaten to turn into a serious problem of public health. The capacity of the bacteria as colonizing and infected agent in humans is due to the wide spectrum of factors that it possesses, so much of colonization as of virulence. Between them, the phenol-soluble modulins (PSMs) have reached a height because it has been identified that they have lytic activity against leukocytes and erythrocytes, inflammatory properties and capacity of causing antimicrobial interference against commensal species and participants in the biofilm formation. Objective: to describe the advances around the importance of the PSMs in the pathogenesis of the infections by S. aureus. Methods: a bibliographic search was carried out in PubMed, including clinical trials, molecular epidemiology studies and review articles related with the PSMs of S. aureus. The keywords used were: bacterial toxins, phenol-soluble modulin, Staphylococcus aureus, Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Colombia, Cartagena. Results: a total of 53 articles were included in this review. The PSMs were described in S. aureus by the first time in 2007, since then, their classification in the bacteria has been carried out and there has been identified the participation of these molecules in different biological processes of the bacteria as the quorum sensing, and its proinflammatory potential. Between the most significant aspects of these molecules is the possible clinical utility due to the interference inter-specie that has been observed. Conclusion: there exists increasing information that supports the role of the PSMs in the pathogenesis of the S. aureus. Nevertheless, the pathogenic power of the bacteria could be attribute to the sum of several factor dependent of the microorganism and of the human host. Rev.cienc.biomed. 2014;5(1):107-115 KEYWORDS Virulence factors, Pathogenicity, Bacterial toxins,Cytotoxins, Staphylococcus aureu