Fig. 4

Adherence of staphylococcal strains (A) MSSA 25923 and (B) MRSA 33591 to HVEC. Subconfluent HVEC cell monolayers were infected with a suspension at a cell: bacterial ratio of 1: 200 in the presence or absence of varying concentrations of APLss or Van. HVEC were lysed to release any clinging bacteria, and then plated in serial dilutions on LB-agar plates. The bacteria adhering to the HVEC cells were quantified. The data are shown as mean ± SEM. Bars marked with a (*), (***) or (****) indicate statistical significance at the p < 0.05, p < 0.001, and p < 0.0001 levels, respectively. Abbreviations: APLss, antimicrobial peptidase lysostaphin; HVEC, human vaginal epithelial cells; MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; MSSA, methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus; Van, vancomycin