In vitro adhesion properties of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coliisolated from cattle, food, and humans

• Main Authors: Nathalie ePRADEL, Lucie eEtienne-Mesmin, Jonathan eThévenot, Charlotte eCordonnier, Stéphanie eBlanquet-Diot, Valérie eLivrelli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-02-01
• Series: Frontiers in Microbiology
• Subjects: EAE; STEC; ToxB; cell lines adhesion; seropathotype
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00156/full
• ISSN: 1664-302X

Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are able to cause serious illnesses ranging from diarrhea to hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). These bacteria colonize the digestive tract of humans and produce Shiga-toxins, which are considered to be essential for virulence and are crucial in lethal infection. Colon colonization is supposed to be a determinant step in the development of the infection, but the virulence traits that mediate this step are unclear. We analysed the ability of 256 STEC strains belonging to seropathotype A (the most virulent O157:H7 serotype) to seropathotype E (not involved in human disease) to adhere to HEp-2, HCT-8 and T84 cell lines. The adhesion levels were globally low, but the highest levels were associated to O26:H11 and O103:H2 strains of seropathotype B (associated with outbreaks and HUS but less commonly than serotype O157:H7), possessing both the eae and toxB genes.