High Serum Levels of Toxin A Correlate with Disease Severity in Patients with Clostridioides difficile Infection.

ABSTRACT: Cloistridioides difficile (CD) represents a major public healthcare-associated infection causing significant morbidity and mortality. The pathogenic effects of CD are mainly caused by the release of two exotoxins into the intestine: toxin A (TcdA) and toxin B (TcdB). CD infection (CDI) can also cause toxemia, explaining the systemic complications of life-threatening cases. Currently, there is a lack of sensitive assays to detect exotoxins circulating in the blood. Here, we report a new semi-quantitative diagnostic method to measure CD toxins serum levels. The dot-blot assay was modified to separately detect TcdA and TcdB in human serum with a limit of detection at the pg/mL levels. TcdA and TcdB concentrations in the plasma of 35 CDI patients were measured at the time of CDI diagnosis and

SUBMITTER: Granata G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8470527 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature