Bacteria and endothelial cells: a toxic relationship.

Bacteria and endothelial cells: a toxic relationship. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2016 Dec 22;35:58-63 Authors: Lubkin A, Torres VJ Abstract Pathogenic bacteria use the bloodstream as a highway for getting around the body, and thus have to find ways to enter and exit through the endothelium. Many bacteria approach this problem by producing toxins that can breach the endothelial barrier through diverse creative mechanisms, including directly killing endothelial cells (ECs), weakening the cytoskeleton within ECs, and breaking the junctions between ECs. Toxins can also modulate the immune response by influencing endothelial biology, and can modulate endothelial function by influencing the response of leukocytes. Understanding these interactions, in both the in vitro and in vivo contexts, is of critical importance for designing new therapies for sepsis and other severe bacterial diseases. PMID: 28013162 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Curr Opin Microbiol Source Type: research