%0 Journal Article %A Willcox, M. D. P. %T Potential pathogenic properties of members of the “Streptococcus milleri” group in relation to the production of endocarditis and abscesses %D 1995 %J Journal of Medical Microbiology, %V 43 %N 6 %P 405-410 %@ 1473-5644 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/00222615-43-6-405 %I Microbiology Society, %X Summary The “Streptococcus milleri” (SMG) group have been shown to possess factors in vitro that may be involved in pathogenesis. All SMG strains are able to bind fibronectin via a cell-surface protein; the binding ranged from 12 to 198 mol/cell. Strains also bound to platelet-fibrin or fibrin clots and fibrinogen, giving maximum adhesion values of 16.5%, 21.8% and 151 mol/cell respectively. Members of the species S. constellatus produced thrombin-like activity. Lancefield group C SMG aggregated rat platelets, a bacterial cell-surface protein acting as mediator in the reaction. Most of the in-vitro factors did not correlate with each other, an indication that SMG strains possess a wide variety of pathogenic properties that may be involved in the production of abscesses or endocarditis. However, there was a correlation between the binding of large amounts of fibrinogen (> 100 mol/cell) and the ability to aggregate platelets. This suggests that fibrinogen binding may aid in platelet aggregation. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/00222615-43-6-405