title: Contribution of the highly conserved EaeH surface protein to enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli pathogenesis.
abstract: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) strains are among the most common causes of diarrheal illness worldwide. These pathogens disproportionately afflict children in developing countries, where they cause substantial morbidity and are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Although these organisms are important targets for enteric vaccines, most development efforts to date have centered on a subset of plasmid-encoded fimbrial adhesins known as colonization factors and heat-labile toxin (LT). Emerging data suggest that ETEC undergoes considerable changes in its surface architecture, sequentially deploying a number of putative adhesins during its interactions with the host. We demonstrate here that one putative highly conserved, chromosomally encoded adhesin, EaeH, engages the surfaces of intestinal epithelial cells and contributes to bacterial adhesion, LT delivery, and colonization of the small intestine.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Alaullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sheikh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Qingwei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Medicine Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Koushik
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni-Sueif University, Beni-Sueif, Egypt.
authors.forename: Salwa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shabaan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Pardeep
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Immunology Laboratory, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Firdausi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qadri
authors.affiliation: Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA Medicine Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri, USA jflecken@wustl.edu.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Fleckenstein
mesh_terms: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000276:immunology; D018938:Caco-2 Cells; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D054307:Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli / Q000276:immunology*; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000276:immunology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000276:immunology; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D022361:Escherichia coli Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D004768:Enterotoxins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D022361:Escherichia coli Vaccines