Biological Trojan horse: Antigen 43 provides specific bacterial uptake and survival in human neutrophils.

ABSTRACT: Escherichia coli is a versatile pathogen causing millions of infections in humans every year. This bacterium can form multicellular aggregates when it expresses a self-associating protein, antigen 43 (Ag43), on its surface. We have discovered that Ag43-expressing E. coli cells are efficiently taken up by human defense cells, polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs), in an opsonin-independent manner. Surprisingly, the phagocytosed bacteria were not immediately killed but resided as tight aggregates within the PMNs. Our observations indicate that Ag43-mediated uptake and survival in PMNs constitute a mechanism to subvert one of the primary defense mechanisms of the human body.

SUBMITTER: Fexby S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1828374 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature