Exfoliate
Exfoliatins (Latin for exfoliation , flaking) are highly specific bacterial toxins that are formed by certain Staphylococcus aureus species and can cause blistering of the skin in humans and some animals .
A distinction is made between exfoliate A (ETA) and exfoliate B (ETB, identical to D), which differ in the type of inheritance : ETB is plasmid- bound, ETA is inherited chromosomally . The toxic effect is most likely identical. They act as glutamate- specific serine proteases , which specifically cleave cadherin desmoglein I, an adhesive protein in the desmosomes of the stratum granulosum, and thus cause an intraepidermal gap to form between the stratum spinosum and the stratum granulosum .
Exfoliants circulating in the bloodstream cause the systemic skin toxicosis staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS). In large-blistered, staphylococcal-induced impetigo contagiosa , exfoliatins are responsible for the locally limited blistering of the skin.