Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococcus -GAS) can cause numerous human infections, varying from mild skin infections to life-threatening, e.g. necrotizing fasciitis. Adherence and biofilm production are important in streptoccocal pathogenesis. GAS adhesins are numerous and diverse, with the ability to bind to several different receptors at the same time, which leads to difficulties in their precise identification and classification. Biofilm production is one of the most probable

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... n for therapeutic failure in the treatment of GAS infections. Most researchers agreed that biofilm formation is a trait of individual strains rather than a general serotype attribute. The aim of our study is to investigate differences in adherence to laminin and biofilm production between invasive and non-invasive isolates (NI) of GAS. In this study the correlation between adherence to laminin and invasiveness in GAS isolates is noticed. The strains isolated from GAS carriers and highly invasive (HI) GAS strains have excellent capacity for binding to laminin. When testing biofilm production, there was noticeable positive correlation between adherence and biofilm production among non-invasive isolates. Non-invasive isolates were stable biofilm productors. There was no correlation between adherence and biofilm production among invasive isolates. Invasive isolates were also unstable biofilm productors. Although sometimes not sufficiently emphasized, efficient adherence is the prime step in the pathogenesis of infective disease. Factors that influence adherence are diverse and can Adherence and Biofilm Production of Streptococcus pyogenes http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/63490 Adherence and Biofilm Production of Streptococcus pyogenes