bIn the present study, immunomodulatory effects of linezolid (LZD) on methicillin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections were evaluated. We have retrospectively reviewed treatment effects of LZD on 52 patients with severe MRSA infections. Sixty-four percent of the febrile patients demonstrated significant defervescence within 3 days, despite the presence of positive culture results. We speculated that this finding might be due to early anti-inflammatory effects of LZD, and to investigate this further we initiated in vivo experiments using mice MRSA pneumonia models. Mice were treated with either LZD or vancomycin (VCM) immediately after intranasal administration of MRSA. Bacterial numbers and levels of inflammatory cytokines in the lungs were determined. Although the bacterial burden in the lungs was not apparently different between the two groups, LZD but not VCM treatment significantly reduced induction of inflammatory cytokines in the lungs (P < 0.05). To evaluate whether this anti-inflammatory response was due to suppression of virulence factor expression, filter-sterilized supernatants of MRSA incubated in broth overnight with sub-MICs of LZD were subcutaneously administered to mice. To clarify whether LZD possesses direct host-modulating activity, cytokine responses to the supernatants were examined in mice pretreated with LZD. Interestingly, MRSA solutions prepared in the presence of sub-MICs of LZD revealed significant suppression of interleukin 6 (IL-6) in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05), but pretreatment of mice with LZD revealed no changes in cytokines. These findings suggest that sub-MICs of LZD might suppress virulence factors of MRSA, which may be associated with a reduction in endogenous pyrogens. These data may explain at least in part early defervescence observed in LZD-treated individuals. L inezoid (LZD) (Zyvox; Pfizer, Japan) is the first available agent in a new class of antimocrobials called oxazolidinones and was approved in Japan in 2006 for treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, such as sepsis, skin and soft tissue infections, surgical site infections, and pneumonia. It has a unique mechanism of action, which is inhibition of bacterial protein synthesis at the initiation step of protein biosynthesis (24), resulting in good efficacy in treating Gram-positive bacterial infections.Recently, several classes of antimicrobial agents, such as macrolides and quinolones, are reported to possess certain immunomodulatory effects (6,7,11,16,22,29). In particular, protein synthesis-suppressing antibiotics, such as clindamycin and macrolides, can induce a general inhibition of virulence factor expression, such as alpha-toxin (14,17,21,23,32). Although several investigators have reported immunomodulatory activity of LZD (4,5,8,9), the precise mechanism and its contribution to the clinical course are poorly understood.After approval of LZD for MRSA infections, administration of LZD has been used generally to treat patients with severe MRSA infections. ...