Scientists have found that virulent E.coli bacteria blocks a pathway that would protect the gut from infection. These infections are particularly serious in young children and can result in diarrhoea and other complications such as kidney damage.
The role of this pathway in fighting gut infection was previously unknown but defects in it are associated with inflammatory bowel disease.
Norovirus
Norovirus or winter vomiting bug, the virus that spoils your vacation, is the leading cause of food-borne disease and a major cause of food contamination.
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The research, published tomorrow in Nature, provides much needed insight into how the gut fights infection.
Lead author Professor Elizabeth Hartland from the University's Department of Microbiology and Immunology said the research improved our understanding of what happens when this pathway doesn't work as well as it should.
![Researchers Show How Antibiotics Enable Pathogenic Gut Infections]( "Researchers Show How Antibiotics Enable Pathogenic Gut Infections")
At the Stanford University School of Medicine, a new study by researchers could help pinpoint ways to counter the effects of the antibiotics-driven depletion of friendly, gut-dwelling bacteria.
"This research provides a model where we can look at how these bacteria switch off a critical pathway in our body that helps fight infection and contributes to normal intestinal function," she said.
"Using this fundamental knowledge, we can conduct further studies and work towards improving therapies and treatments for people with inflammatory bowel disease, which affects around 5 million people worldwide"
The researchers found the diarrhoea-causing bacteria use a needle-like structure to inject a toxin into the gut cell that blocks cell death. This allows the bacteria to survive and spread in the gut, causing a range of diseases.
The injected toxin paralyses the infected cell's ability to send messages to immune cells which would normally sense and eliminate dangerous microbes from the body as well as alert the broader immune system to mount a response to the infection.
"This is a significant contribution to global research in this field as the role of this pathway in intestinal defence and the way bacteria go about blocking this pathway was not known." Diarrhoeal infections are predominantly a problem in developing countries where sanitation is poor, yet cases of virulent E. coli also occur in developed countries including Australia.
The international study was conducted in collaboration with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Bio21 Institute and international universities.
Source: Eurekalert
Researchers Show How Antibiotics Enable Pathogenic Gut Infections
At the Stanford University School of Medicine, a new study by researchers could help pinpoint ways to counter the effects of the antibiotics-driven depletion of friendly, gut-dwelling bacteria.
Advertisement
"This research provides a model where we can look at how these bacteria switch off a critical pathway in our body that helps fight infection and contributes to normal intestinal function," she said.
"Using this fundamental knowledge, we can conduct further studies and work towards improving therapies and treatments for people with inflammatory bowel disease, which affects around 5 million people worldwide"
The researchers found the diarrhoea-causing bacteria use a needle-like structure to inject a toxin into the gut cell that blocks cell death. This allows the bacteria to survive and spread in the gut, causing a range of diseases.
The injected toxin paralyses the infected cell's ability to send messages to immune cells which would normally sense and eliminate dangerous microbes from the body as well as alert the broader immune system to mount a response to the infection.
"This is a significant contribution to global research in this field as the role of this pathway in intestinal defence and the way bacteria go about blocking this pathway was not known." Diarrhoeal infections are predominantly a problem in developing countries where sanitation is poor, yet cases of virulent E. coli also occur in developed countries including Australia.
The international study was conducted in collaboration with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Bio21 Institute and international universities.
Source: Eurekalert
Study Finds Key Protein That Resists Gut Infection
A protein that is key in co ordinating the body's overall immune response has an important localized role in fighting bacterial infection and inflammation in the intestines.
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