Moreover, S. pneumoniae is also the leading cause of community-acquired pneumonia and one of the major causes of otitis media, sepsis, and meningitis.73 While the importance of FN binding in these pneumococcal diseases has not been clearly established, deletion of the PavA gene significantly reduces S. pneumoniae virulence in mouse models of sepsis,74 pneumonia,2 and meningitis.75 These results suggest that examining the inhibitory effects of 2-O-sulfated heparan compounds on S. pneumoniae adhesion and infection of other tissues may be well worth trying. The gene discussed is FN1; the disease is meningitis.