Cytolysin

Cytolysin refers to the substance secreted by microorganisms, plants or animals that is specifically toxic to individual cells, in many cases causing their dissolution through lysis. Cytolysins that have a specific action for certain cells are named accordingly. For instance, the cytolysins responsible for the destruction of red blood cells, thereby liberating hemoglobins, are named hemolysins, and so on. Cytolysins may be involved in immunity as well as in venoms.

Hemolysin is also used by certain bacteria, such as Listeria monocytogenes, to disrupt the phagosome membrane of macrophages and escape into the cytoplasm of the cell.

History and background

The term "Cytolysin" or "Cytolytic toxin" was first introduced by Alan Bernheimer to describe membrane damaging toxins (MDTs) that have cytolytic effects to cells. The first kind of cytolytic toxin discovered have hemolytic effects on erythrocytes of certain sensitive species, such as Human. For this reason "Hemolysin" was first used to describe any MDTs. In the 1960s certain MDTs were proved to be destructive on cells other than erythrocytes, such as leukocytes. The term "Cytolysin" is then introduced by Bernheimer to replace "Hemolysin". Cytolysins can destruct membranes without creating lysis to cells. Therefore, "membrane damaging toxins" (MDTs) describes the essential actions of cytolysins. Cytolysins comprise more than 1/3 of all bacterial protein toxins. Bacterial protein toxins can be highly poisonous to human. For example, Botulinum is 3x10⁵ more toxic than snake venom to human and its toxic dose is only 0.8x10⁻⁸ mg. A wide variety of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria use cytolysin as their primary weapon for creating diseases, such as Clostridium perfringens and Staphylococcus.