Capsule did not affect colonization of the nasopharynx but only nonencapsulated strains reached the lungs.

<p>Each symbol represents the CFU from the nasopharynx or lungs of an individual mouse on days 1, 3, 8 and 15 after intranasal inoculation. (No bacteria were detected at day 0 before any bacteria were administered.) Horizontal bars indicate means.</p

Effect of capsule and pneumolysin on CXCL8 and IL-6 induction in human nasopharyngeal and bronchial epithelial cells.

<p>Detroit 562 nasopharyngeal epithelial cells (A and B) and bronchial epithelial cells (C and D) were assessed for CXCL8 (A and C) and IL-6 (B and D) release after exposure to wild type or mutant pneumococcal strains. All experiments were performed in triplicate at each of three CFU concentrations (1, 1.5 and 2 × 10⁶) and the results pooled for each strain. Note different scales of Y axes. Error bars indicate SEM. * indicates significant difference.</p

Effect of capsule and pneumolysin on CXCL8 homologue induction in the mouse nasopharynx.

<p>CXCL8 homologue (CXCL2/MIP-2) detected in nasopharyngeal homogenate of mice three days after exposure to wild type or mutant pneumococci expressed as a percentage of the value obtained with the wild type strain. Error bars indicate SEM. * indicates significant difference from value of the parent strain.</p