Enteropathogenic and enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli : more subversive elements |
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| Authors: | Gad Frankel,Alan D. Phillips,Ilan Rosenshine,Gordon Dougan,James B. Kaper,& Stuart Knutton |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Biochemistry, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2AZ, UK.,;University Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Royal Free Hospital, London NW3 2QG, UK.,;Department of Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology, The Hebrew University, Faculty of Medicine, POB 12272, Jerusalem 9112, Israel.,;Center for Vaccine Development, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.,;Institute of Child Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B4 6LH, UK. |
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| Abstract: | Enteropathogenic (EPEC) and enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) constitute a significant risk to human health worldwide. Both pathogens colonize the intestinal mucosa and, by subverting intestinal epithelial cell function, produce a characteristic histopathological feature known as the 'attaching and effacing' (A/E) lesion. Although EPEC was the first E. coli to be associated with human disease in the 1940s and 1950s, it was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s that the mechanisms and bacterial gene products used to induce this complex brush border membrane lesion and diarrhoeal disease started to be unravelled. During the past few months, there has been a burst of new data that have revolutionized some basic concepts of the molecular basis of bacterial pathogenesis in general and EPEC pathogenesis in particular. Major breakthroughs and developments in the genetic basis of A/E lesion formation, signal transduction, protein translocation, host cell receptors and intestinal colonization are highlighted in this review. |
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