Overcoming Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Pathogen Diversity: Translational Molecular Approaches to Inform Vaccine Design.

ABSTRACT: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) are a genetically diverse E. coli pathovar that share in the ability to produce heat-labile toxin and/or heat-stable toxins. While these pathogens contribute substantially to the burden of diarrheal illness in developing countries, at present, there is no suitable broadly protective vaccine to prevent these common infections. Most vaccine development attempts to date have followed a classical approach involving a relatively small group of antigens. The extraordinary underlying genetic plasticity of E. coli has confounded the antigen valency requirements based on this approach. The recent discovery of additional virulence proteins within this group of pathogens, as well as the availability of whole-genome sequences from hundreds of ETEC strains to fac

SUBMITTER: Fleckenstein JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5228307 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature