scholarly journals Molecular Biology of Escherichia coli Shiga Toxins’ Effects on Mammalian Cells

Toxins ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Menge

Shiga toxins (Stxs), syn. Vero(cyto)toxins, are potent bacterial exotoxins and the principal virulence factor of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), a subset of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). EHEC strains, e.g., strains of serovars O157:H7 and O104:H4, may cause individual cases as well as large outbreaks of life-threatening diseases in humans. Stxs primarily exert a ribotoxic activity in the eukaryotic target cells of the mammalian host resulting in rapid protein synthesis inhibition and cell death. Damage of endothelial cells in the kidneys and the central nervous system by Stxs is central in the pathogenesis of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in humans and edema disease in pigs. Probably even more important, the toxins also are capable of modulating a plethora of essential cellular functions, which eventually disturb intercellular communication. The review aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge of the time course and the consecutive steps of Stx/cell interactions at the molecular level. Intervention measures deduced from an in-depth understanding of this molecular interplay may foster our basic understanding of cellular biology and microbial pathogenesis and pave the way to the creation of host-directed active compounds to mitigate the pathological conditions of STEC infections in the mammalian body.

Toxins ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maike Schwidder ◽  
Laura Heinisch ◽  
Herbert Schmidt

The ability to produce enterohemolysin is regarded as a potential virulence factor for enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and is frequently associated with severe human diseases such as hemorrhagic colitis (HC) and the hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The responsible toxin, which has also been termed EHEC-hemolysin (EHEC-Hly, syn. Ehx), belongs to the Repeats in Toxin (RTX)-family of pore-forming cytolysins and is characterized by the formation of incomplete turbid lysis zones on blood agar plates containing defibrinated sheep erythrocytes. Besides the expression of Shiga toxins (Stx) and the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), EHEC-Hly is a commonly used marker for the detection of potential pathogenic E. coli strains, although its exact role in pathogenesis is not completely understood. Based on the current knowledge of EHEC-Hly, this review describes the influence of various regulator proteins, explains the different mechanisms leading to damage of target cells, discusses the diagnostic role, and gives an insight of the prevalence and genetic evolution of the toxin.


2005 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renato A. Mortara ◽  
Walter K. Andreoli ◽  
Noemi N. Taniwaki ◽  
Adriana B. Fernandes ◽  
Claudio V. da Silva ◽  
...  

Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas’ disease, occurs as different strains or isolates that may be grouped in two major phylogenetic lineages: T. cruzi I, associated with the sylvatic cycle and T. cruzi II, linked to the human disease. In the mammalian host the parasite has to invade cells and many studies implicated the flagellated trypomastigotes in this process. Several parasite surface components and some of host cell receptors with which they interact have been identified. Our work focused on how amastigotes, usually found growing in the cytoplasm, can invade mammalian cells with infectivities comparable to that of trypomastigotes. We found differences in cellular responses induced by amastigotes and trypomastigotes regarding cytoskeletal components and actin-rich projections. Extracellularly generated amastigotes of T. cruzi I strains may display greater infectivity than metacyclic trypomastigotes towards cultured cell lines as well as target cells that have modified expression of different classes of cellular components. Cultured host cells harboring the bacterium Coxiella burnetii allowed us to gain new insights into the trafficking properties of the different infective forms of T. cruzi, disclosing unexpected requirements for the parasite to transit between the parasitophorous vacuole to its final destination in the host cell cytoplasm.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Mühlen ◽  
Isabell Ramming ◽  
Marina C. Pils ◽  
Martin Koeppel ◽  
Jana Glaser ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Infections with enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) cause disease ranging from mild diarrhea to hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) and are the most common cause of renal failure in children in high-income countries. The severity of the disease derives from the release of Shiga toxins (Stx). The use of antibiotics to treat EHEC infections is generally avoided, as it can result in increased stx expression. Here, we systematically tested different classes of antibiotics and found that their influence on stx expression and release varies significantly. We assessed a selection of these antibiotics in vivo using the Citrobacter rodentium ϕstx2dact mouse model and show that stx2d-inducing antibiotics resulted in weight loss and kidney damage despite clearance of the infection. However, several non-Stx-inducing antibiotics cleared bacterial infection without causing Stx-mediated pathology. Our results suggest that these antibiotics might be useful in the treatment of EHEC-infected human patients and decrease the risk of HUS development.


2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (10) ◽  
pp. 3144-3150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Bielaszewska ◽  
Rita Prager ◽  
Robin Köck ◽  
Alexander Mellmann ◽  
Wenlan Zhang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli serogroup O26 consists of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) and atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (aEPEC). The former produces Shiga toxins (Stx), major determinants of EHEC pathogenicity, encoded by bacteriophages; the latter is Stx negative. We have isolated EHEC O26 from patient stools early in illness and aEPEC O26 from stools later in illness, and vice versa. Intrapatient EHEC and aEPEC isolates had quite similar pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns, suggesting that they might have arisen by conversion between the EHEC and aEPEC pathotypes during infection. To test this hypothesis, we asked whether EHEC O26 can lose stx genes and whether aEPEC O26 can be lysogenized with Stx-encoding phages from EHEC O26 in vitro. The stx 2 loss associated with the loss of Stx2-encoding phages occurred in 10% to 14% of colonies tested. Conversely, Stx2- and, to a lesser extent, Stx1-encoding bacteriophages from EHEC O26 lysogenized aEPEC O26 isolates, converting them to EHEC strains. In the lysogens and EHEC O26 donors, Stx2-converting bacteriophages integrated in yecE or wrbA. The loss and gain of Stx-converting bacteriophages diversifies PFGE patterns; this parallels findings of similar but not identical PFGE patterns in the intrapatient EHEC and aEPEC O26 isolates. EHEC O26 and aEPEC O26 thus exist as a dynamic system whose members undergo ephemeral interconversions via loss and gain of Stx-encoding phages to yield different pathotypes. The suggested occurrence of this process in the human intestine has diagnostic, clinical, epidemiological, and evolutionary implications.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael John Brady ◽  
Padhma Radhakrishnan ◽  
Hui Liu ◽  
Loranne Magoun ◽  
Kenan C. Murphy ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 137-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyung Tae Lee ◽  
◽  
Dalmuri Han ◽  
June Bong Lee ◽  
Chong-Hae Hong ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 369-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smriti Shringi ◽  
Alexis García ◽  
Kevin K. Lahmers ◽  
Kathleen A. Potter ◽  
Sureshkumar Muthupalani ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTEnterohemorrhagicEscherichia coliO157:H7 (EHEC O157) is an important cause of food and waterborne illness in the developed countries. Cattle are a reservoir host of EHEC O157 and a major source of human exposure through contaminated meat products. Shiga toxins (Stxs) are an important pathogenicity trait of EHEC O157. The insertion sites of the Stx-encoding bacteriophages differentiate EHEC O157 isolates into genogroups commonly isolated from cattle but rarely from sick humans (bovine-biased genotypes [BBG]) and those commonly isolated from both cattle and human patients (clinical genotypes [CG]). Since BBG and CG share the cardinal virulence factors of EHEC O157 and are carried by cattle at similar prevalences, the infrequent occurrence of BBG among human disease isolates suggests that they may be less virulent than CG. We compared the virulence potentials of human and bovine isolates of CG and BBG in newborn conventional pig and weaned Dutch Belted rabbit models. CG-challenged piglets experienced severe disease accompanied by early and high mortality compared to BBG-challenged piglets. Similarly, CG-challenged rabbits were likely to develop lesions in kidney and intestine compared with the BBG-challenged rabbits. The CG strains used in this study carriedstx2and produced significantly higher amounts of Stx, whereas the BBG strains carried thestx2cgene variant only. These results suggest that BBG are less virulent than CG and that this difference in virulence potential is associated with the Stx2 subtype(s) carried and/or the amount of Stx produced.


2012 ◽  
Vol 80 (7) ◽  
pp. 2307-2315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan K. Ho ◽  
Juan C. Ossa ◽  
Uma Silphaduang ◽  
Roger Johnson ◽  
Kathene C. Johnson-Henry ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTEnterohemorrhagicEscherichia coli(EHEC) serotype O157:H7 is a food-borne pathogen that causes significant morbidity and mortality in developing and industrialized nations. EHEC infection of host epithelial cells is capable of inhibiting the gamma interferon (IFN-γ) proinflammatory pathway through the inhibition of Stat-1 phosphorylation, which is important for host defense against microbial pathogens. The aim of this study was to determine the bacterial factors involved in the inhibition of Stat-1 tyrosine phosphorylation. Human HEp-2 and Caco-2 epithelial cells were challenged directly with either EHEC or bacterial culture supernatants and stimulated with IFN-γ, and then the protein extracts were analyzed by immunoblotting. The data showed that IFN-γ-mediated Stat-1 tyrosine phosphorylation was inhibited by EHEC secreted proteins. Using two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis, EHEC Shiga toxins were identified as candidate inhibitory factors. EHEC Shiga toxin mutants were then generated and complemented intrans, and mutant culture supernatant was supplemented with purified Stx to confirm their ability to subvert IFN-γ-mediated cell activation. We conclude that while other factors are likely involved in the suppression of IFN-γ-mediated Stat-1 tyrosine phosphorylation,E. coli-derived Shiga toxins represent a novel mechanism by which EHEC evades the host immune system.


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