Importance of heat-labile enterotoxin in colonization of the adult mouse small intestine by human enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strains.

ABSTRACT: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) infections are a significant cause of diarrheal disease and infant mortality in developing countries. Studies of ETEC pathogenesis relevant to vaccine development have been greatly hampered by the lack of a suitable small-animal model of infection with human ETEC strains. Here, we demonstrate that adult immunocompetent outbred mice can be effectively colonized with the prototypical human ETEC H10407 strain (colonization factor antigen I; heat-labile and heat-stable enterotoxin positive) and that production of heat-labile holotoxin provides a significant advantage in colonization of the small intestine in this model.

SUBMITTER: Allen KP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1360293 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature