Group A Streptococcus (GAS) can cause life-threatening invasive infections, including necrotizing fasciitis. There are no effective treatments for severe invasive GAS infections. The platelet-activating factor (PAF) acetylhydrolase SsE produced by GAS is required for invasive GAS to evade innate immune responses and to invade soft tissues. This study determined whether the enzymatic activity of SsE is critical for its function in GAS skin invasion and inhibition of neutrophil recruitment and whether SsE is a viable target for immunotherapy for severe invasive GAS infections. An isogenic derivative of M1T1 strain MGAS5005 producing SsE with an S178A substitution (SsE S178A ), an enzymatically inactive SsE mutant protein, was generated. This strain induced higher levels of neutrophil infiltration and caused smaller lesions than MGAS5005 in subcutaneous infections of mice. This phenotype is similar to that of MGAS5005 sse deletion mutants, indicating that the enzymatic activity of SsE is critical for its function. An anti-SsE IgG1 monoclonal antibody (MAb), 2B11, neutralized the PAF acetylhydrolase activity of SsE. Passive immunization with 2B11 increased neutrophil infiltration, reduced skin invasion, and protected mice against MGAS5005 infection. However, 2B11 did not protect mice when it was administered after MGAS5005 inoculation. MGAS5005 induced vascular effusion at infection sites at early hours after GAS inoculation, suggesting that 2B11 did not always have access to infection sites. Thus, the enzymatic activity of SsE mediates its function, and SsE has the potential to be included in a vaccine but is not a therapeutic target. An effective MAb-based immunotherapy for severe invasive GAS infections may need to target virulence factors that are critical for systemic survival of GAS. G roup A Streptococcus (GAS) is a major human pathogen that commonly causes pharyngitis and superficial skin infections (1). This pathogen can also cause severe invasive infections, such as necrotizing fasciitis, streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, pneumonia, and bacteremia. Streptococcal necrotizing fasciitis results from GAS infection of the subcutaneous tissue, which progresses rapidly, causes necrosis of the fascia and subcutaneous tissue, and leads to systemic infection (2). Annually in the United States, there are more than 10 million cases of streptococcal pharyngitis and about 10,000 cases of invasive GAS infections (3.5 cases per 100,000 persons), with a fatality rate of 13.7%, and invasive infections are most frequently caused by serotype M1, M3, and M12 GAS strains (3).While antibiotic treatment is effective to treat pharyngitis patients, it is not effective for treating severe invasive GAS infections (4). Prompt surgical debridement, fluid and electrolyte management, and analgesia are mainstays of therapy for necrotizing fasciitis (5-7). Clindamycin, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and intravenous immunoglobulin are used as adjunctive treatments of severe invasive GAS infections (4-7). New strategies to treat severe GAS inf...