Kingella kingae Virulence Factors and Insights into Pathogenicity

The emergence of Kingella kingae as an important etiology of pediatric osteoarticular infections over the past three decades has led to significant research efforts focused on understanding the pathogenicity of this fastidious Gram-negative bacterium. This work has uncovered multiple virulence factors that likely play key roles in the ability of the organism to colonize the upper respiratory tract, breach the epithelial barrier, and disseminate to distal sites of infection. Herein the current body of knowledge about K. kingae virulence factors is reviewed in the context of K. kingae disease pathogenesis. The work summarized here has identified multiple targets for therapeutic intervention as well as potential vaccine antigens.