Since Gli2 as well as the gene promotor activity in hBMECs was observed to be significantly decreased by meningitis E. coli RS218 (Fig. 4B and Additional file 1: Fig S1A), we therefore transfected the pGL3-gli2-promo-WT reporter plasmid into HEK-293 T cells, and preliminarily tested the regulative effect of RS218 on Gli2 transcription. The gene discussed is GLI2; the disease is infectious meningitis.