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A microbial pathogen can potentially enter any part of a host organism. In general, the type of disease produced by a particular microbe is often a direct consequence of its route of entry into the body. The most common sites of entry are mucosal surfaces (the respiratory, alimentary, and urogenital tracts) and the skin. Ingestion, inhalation, and sexual contact are typical routes of microbial entry. Other portals of entry include sites of skin injury (cuts, bites, burns, trauma) along with injection via natural (i.e., vector-borne) or artificial (i.e., needle-stick injury) routes. A few pathogens, such as Schistosoma species, can penetrate unbroken skin. The conjunctiva can serve as an entry point for pathogens of the eye, which occasionally spread systemically from that site.
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Microbial entry usually relies on the presence of specific factors needed for persistence and growth in a tissue. Fecal-oral spread via the alimentary tract requires a biologic profile consistent with survival in the varied environments of the gastrointestinal tract (including the low pH of the stomach and the high bile content of the intestine) as well as in contaminated food or water outside the host. Organisms that gain entry via the respiratory tract survive well in small moist droplets produced during sneezing and coughing. Pathogens that enter by venereal routes often survive best in the warm moist environment of the urogenital mucosa and have restricted host ranges (e.g., Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Treponema pallidum, and HIV).
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The biology of microbes entering through the skin is highly varied. Some of these organisms can survive in a broad range of environments, such as the salivary glands or alimentary tracts of arthropod vectors, the mouths of larger animals, soil, and water. A complex biology allows protozoan parasites such as Plasmodium, Leishmania, and Trypanosoma species to undergo morphogenic changes that permit transmission to mammalian hosts during insect feeding for blood meals. Plasmodia are injected as infective sporozoites from the salivary glands during mosquito feeding. Leishmania parasites are regurgitated as promastigotes from the alimentary tract of sandflies and injected by bite into a susceptible host. Trypanosomes are first ingested from infected hosts by reduviid bugs; the pathogens then multiply in the gastrointestinal tract of the insects and are released in feces onto the host’s skin during subsequent feedings. Most microbes that land directly on intact skin are destined to die, as survival on the skin or in hair follicles requires resistance to fatty acids, low pH, and other antimicrobial factors on the skin. Once it is damaged (and particularly if it becomes necrotic), the skin can be a major portal of entry and growth for pathogens and elaboration of their toxic products. Burn wound infections and tetanus are clear examples. After animal bites, pathogens resident in the animal’s saliva gain access to the victim’s tissues through the damaged skin. Rabies is the paradigm for this pathogenic process; rabies virus grows in striated muscle cells at the site of inoculation.
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Once in or on a host, most microbes must anchor themselves to a tissue or tissue factor; the possible exceptions are organisms that directly enter the bloodstream and multiply there. Specific ligands or adhesins for host receptors constitute a major area of study in the field of microbial pathogenesis. Adhesins comprise a wide range of surface structures, not only anchoring the microbe to a tissue and promoting cellular entry where appropriate but also eliciting host responses critical to the pathogenic process (Table 2-1). Most microbes produce multiple adhesins specific for multiple host receptors. These adhesins are often redundant, are serologically variable, and act additively or synergistically with other microbial factors to promote microbial sticking to host tissues. In addition, some microbes adsorb host proteins onto their surface and utilize the natural host protein receptor for microbial binding and entry into target cells.
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All viral pathogens must bind to host cells, enter them, and replicate within them. Viral coat proteins serve as the ligands for cellular entry, and more than one ligand-receptor interaction may be needed; for example, HIV utilizes its envelope glycoprotein (gp) 120 to enter host cells by binding both to CD4 and to one of two receptors for chemokines (designated CCR5 and CXCR4). Similarly, the measles virus H glycoprotein binds to both CD46 and the membrane-organizing protein moesin on host cells. The gB and gC proteins on herpes simplex virus bind to heparan sulfate, although this adherence is not essential for entry but rather serves to concentrate virions close to the cell surface; this step is followed by attachment to mammalian cells mediated by the viral gD protein, with subsequent formation of a homotrimer of viral gB protein or a heterodimer of viral gH and gL proteins that permits fusion of the viral envelope with the host cell membrane. Herpes simplex virus can use a number of eukaryotic cell surface receptors for entry, including the herpesvirus entry mediator (related to the tumor necrosis factor receptor), members of the immunoglobulin superfamily, the proteins nectin-1 and nectin-2, and modified heparan sulfate.
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Among the microbial adhesins studied in greatest detail are bacterial pili and flagella (Fig. 2-1). Pili or fimbriae are commonly used by gram-negative bacteria for attachment to host cells and tissues; studies have identified similar factors produced by gram-positive organisms such as group B streptococci. In electron micrographs, these hairlike projections (up to several hundred per cell) may be confined to one end of the organism (polar pili) or distributed more evenly over the surface. An individual cell may have pili with a variety of functions. Most pili are made up of a major pilin protein subunit (molecular weight, 17,000–30,000) that polymerizes to form the pilus. Many strains of Escherichia coli isolated from urinary tract infections express mannose-binding type 1 pili, whose binding to integral membrane glycoproteins called uroplakins that coat the cells in the bladder epithelium is inhibited by d-mannose. Other strains produce the Pap (pyelonephritis-associated) or P pilus adhesin that mediates binding to digalactose (gal-gal) residues on globosides of the human P blood groups. Both of these types of pili have proteins located at the tips of the main pilus unit that are critical to the binding specificity of the whole pilus unit. Although immunization with the mannose-binding tip protein (FimH) of type 1 pili prevents experimental E. coli bladder infections in mice and monkeys, a human trial of this vaccine was not successful. E. coli cells causing diarrheal disease express pilus-like receptors for enterocytes on the small bowel, along with other receptors termed colonization factors.
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The type IV pilus, a common type of pilus found in Neisseria species, Moraxella species, Vibrio cholerae, Legionella pneumophila, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, enteropathogenic E. coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, often mediates adherence of organisms to target surfaces. Type IV pili tend to have a relatively conserved aminoterminal region and a more variable carboxyl-terminal region. For some species (e.g., N. gonorrhoeae, Neisseria meningitidis, and enteropathogenic E. coli), the pili are critical for attachment to mucosal epithelial cells. For others, such as P. aeruginosa, the pili only partially mediate the cells’ adherence to host tissues and may in some circumstances inhibit colonization. For example, a recent study of P. aeruginosa colonization of the gastrointestinal tract of mice evaluated a bank of mutants in which all nonessential genes were interrupted; those mutants that were unable to produce the type IVa pili were actually better able to colonize the gastrointestinal mucosa, although the basis for this observation was not identified. V. cholerae cells appear to use two different types of pili for intestinal colonization. Whereas interference with this stage of colonization would appear to be an effective antibacterial strategy, attempts to develop pilus-based vaccines for human diseases have not been highly successful to date.
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Flagella are long appendages attached at either one or both ends of the bacterial cell (polar flagella) or distributed over the entire cell surface (peritrichous flagella). Flagella, like pili, are composed of a poly-merized or aggregated basic protein. In flagella, the protein subunits form a tight helical structure and vary serologically with the species. Spirochetes such as T. pallidum and Borrelia burgdorferi have axial filaments similar to flagella running down the long axis of the center of the cell, and they “swim” by rotation around these filaments. Some bacteria can glide over a surface in the absence of obvious motility structures.
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Other bacterial structures involved in adherence to host tissues include specific staphylococcal and streptococcal proteins that bind to human extracellular matrix proteins such as fibrin, fibronectin, fibrinogen, laminin, and collagen. Fibronectin appears to be a commonly used receptor for various pathogens; a particular amino acid sequence in fibronectin, Arg-Gly-Asp or RGD, is a critical target used by bacteria to bind to host tissues. Binding of a highly conserved Staphylococcus aureus surface protein, clumping factor A (ClfA), to fibrinogen has been implicated in many aspects of pathogenesis. Attempts to interrupt this interaction and prevent S. aureus sepsis in low-birth-weight infants by administering an intravenous IgG preparation derived from the plasma of individuals with high titers of antibody to ClfA failed to show efficacy in a clinical trial; however, this approach is being pursued in some vaccine formulations targeting this organism. The conserved outer-core portion of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of P. aeruginosa mediates binding to the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) on airway epithelial cells—an event that appears to play a critical role in normal host resistance to infection by initiating recruitment of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) to the lung mucosa to kill the cells via opsonophagocytosis. A large number of microbial pathogens encompassing major gram-positive bacteria (staphylococci and streptococci), gram-negative bacteria (major enteric species and coccobacilli), fungi (Candida, Fusobacterium, Aspergillus), and even eukaryotes (Trichomonas vaginalis and Plasmodium falciparum) express a surface polysaccharide composed of β-1-6-linked-poly-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (PNAG). One of the functions of PNAG for some of these organisms is to promote binding to materials used in catheters and other types of implanted devices. This polysaccharide may be a critical factor in the establishment of device-related infections by pathogens such as staphylococci and E. coli. High-powered imaging techniques (e.g., atomic force microscopy) have revealed that bacterial cells have a nonhomogeneous surface that is probably attributable to different concentrations of cell surface molecules, including microbial adhesins, at specific places on the cell surface.
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Several fungal adhesins have been described that mediate colonization of epithelial surfaces, particularly adherence to structures like fibronectin, laminin, and collagen. The product of the Candida albicans INT1 gene, Int1p, bears similarity to mammalian integrins that bind to extracellular matrix proteins. The agglutinin-like sequence (ALS) adhesins are large cell-surface glycoproteins mediating adherence of pathogenic Candida to host tissues. These adhesins possess a conserved three-domain structure composed of an N-terminal domain that mediates adherence to host tissue receptors, a central motif consisting of a number of repeats of a conserved sequence of 36 amino acids, and a C-terminal domain that varies in length and sequence and contains a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor addition site that allows binding of the adhesin to the fungal cell wall. Variability in the number of central domains in different ALS proteins characterizes different adhesins with specificity for different host receptors. The ALS adhesins are expressed under certain environmental conditions and are crucial for pathogenesis of fungal infections.
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For several fungal pathogens that initiate infections after inhalation of infectious material, the inoculum is ingested by alveolar macrophages, in which the fungal cells transform to pathogenic phenotypes. Like C. albicans, Blastomyces dermatitidis binds to CD11b/CD18 integrins as well as to CD14 on macrophages. B. dermatitidis produces a 120-kDa surface protein, designated WI-1, that mediates this adherence. An unidentified factor on Histoplasma capsulatum also mediates binding of this fungal pathogen to the integrin surface proteins.
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Eukaryotic pathogen adhesins
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Eukaryotic parasites use complicated surface glycoproteins as adhesins, some of which are lectins (proteins that bind to specific carbohydrates on host cells). For example, Plasmodium vivax, one of six Plasmodium species causing malaria, binds (via Duffy-binding protein) to the Duffy blood group carbohydrate antigen Fy on erythrocytes. Entamoeba histolytica, the third leading cause of death from parasitic diseases, expresses two proteins that bind to the disaccharide galactose/N-acetyl galactosamine. Reports indicate that children with mucosal IgA antibody to one of these lectins are resistant to reinfection with virulent E. histolytica. A major surface glycoprotein (gp63) of Leishmania promastigotes is needed for these parasites to enter human macrophages—the principal target cell of infection. This glycoprotein promotes complement binding but inhibits complement lytic activity, allowing the parasite to use complement receptors for entry into macrophages; gp63 also binds to fibronectin receptors on macrophages. In addition, the pathogen can express a carbohydrate that mediates binding to host cells. Evidence suggests that, as part of hepatic granuloma formation, Schistosoma mansoni expresses a carbohydrate epitope related to the Lewis X blood group antigen that promotes adherence of helminthic eggs to vascular endothelial cells under inflammatory conditions.
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Host receptors are found both on target cells (such as epithelial cells lining mucosal surfaces) and within the mucus layer covering these cells. Microbial pathogens bind to a wide range of host receptors to establish infection (Table 2-1). Selective loss of host receptors for a pathogen may confer natural resistance to an otherwise susceptible population. For example, 70% of individuals in West Africa lack Fy antigens and are resistant to P. vivax infection. S. enterica serovar Typhi, the etiologic agent of typhoid fever, produces a pilus protein that binds to CFTR to enter the gastrointestinal submucosa after being ingested by enterocytes. As homozygous mutations in CFTR are the cause of the life-shortening disease cystic fibrosis, heterozygote carriers (e.g., 4–5% of individuals of European ancestry) may have had a selective advantage due to decreased susceptibility to typhoid fever.
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Numerous virus–target cell interactions have been described, and it is now clear that different viruses can use similar host cell receptors for entry. The list of certain and likely host receptors for viral pathogens is long. Among the host membrane components that can serve as receptors for viruses are sialic acids, gangliosides, glycosaminoglycans, integrins and other members of the immunoglobulin superfamily, histocompatibility antigens, and regulators and receptors for complement components. A notable example of the effect of host receptors on the pathogenesis of infection has emerged from studies comparing the binding of avian influenza A subtype H5N1 with that of influenza A strains expressing the H1 subtype of hemagglutinin. The H1 subtypes tend to be highly pathogenic and transmissible from human to human, and they bind to a receptor composed of two sugar molecules: sialic acid linked α-2-6 to galactose. This receptor is expressed at high levels in the airway epithelium; when virus is shed from this surface, its transmission via coughing and aerosol droplets is facilitated. In contrast, the H5N1 avian influenza virus binds to sialic acid linked α-2-3 to galactose, and this receptor is expressed at high levels in pneumocytes in the alveoli. Infection in the alveoli is thought to underlie the high mortality rate associated with avian influenza but also the low interhuman transmissibility of this strain, which is not readily transported to the airways from which it can be expelled by coughing. Nonetheless, it was recently shown that H5 hemagglutinins can acquire mutations that vastly increase their transmissibility while not affecting their high level of lethality.