Description
It is becoming increasingly apparent that Staphylococcus aureus are able to survive engulfment by macrophages, and that the intracellular environment of these cells, which is essential to innate host defenses against invading microorganisms, may in fact provide a refuge for staphylococcal survival and dissemination. Based on this, we postulated that S. aureus might induce cytoprotective mechanisms by changing gene expression profiles inside macrophages similar to obligate intracellular pathogens, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis.