Structural variants of Salmonella Typhimurium lipopolysaccharide induce less dimerization of TLR4/MD-2 and reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine production in human monocytes

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) changes the structure of its lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in response to the environment. The two main LPS variants found in S. Typhimurium correspond to LPS with a hepta-acylated lipid A (LPS 430) and LPS with modified phosphate groups on its lipid A (LPS 435). We have previously shown that these modified LPS have a lower capacity than wild type (WT) LPS to induce the production of...