Direct gas-liquid chromatography of faecal specimens with isocaproic acid as a marker was used for the rapid diagnosis of Clostridium difficile associated diarrhoeal diseases. Ninety stools were examined and results were compared with conventional culture on selective medium and cytotoxin assay in tissue culture. Using a combined analysis of isocaproic acid and butyric acid peak heights we defi...

Haemophilus ducreyi produces a cytotoxin responsible for the killing of cultured human epithelial cells. Cytotoxin-neutralizing antibodies were detected in the majority of sera from patients with culture-proven chancroid, and a significantly higher level of such antibodies in patients than in blood donors was noted both in areas where the disease is endemic and those where it is not. We produce...

An animal lectin purified from loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) eggs induced release of cytotoxin from fresh bone marrow cells from mice, although the other lectins tested, wheat germ agglutinin, concanavalin A, and phytohemagglutinin did not. The cytotoxin released from bone marrow cells was a heat-labile protein with a molecular weight of 70,000. The main cells responsible for release of Mr...

TolC and its homologues are outer membrane proteins that are essential for the transport of many molecules across the cell envelope. In this study we characterized the gene encoding Vibrio cholerae TolC. V. cholerae tolC mutants failed to secrete the RTX cytotoxin, were hypersensitive to antimicrobial agents, and were deficient in intestinal colonization.

CagA, encoded by cytotoxin-associated gene A (cagA), is a major virulence factor of Helicobacter pylori, a gastric pathogen involved in the development of upper gastrointestinal diseases. Infection with cagA-positive H. pylori may also be associated with diseases outside the stomach, although the mechanisms through which H. pylori infection promotes extragastric diseases remain unknown. Here, w...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Helicobacter pylori has been strongly associated with peptic ulcer diseases, chronic gastritis, ulcers, and reported as a risk factor for gastric cancer, too. The vaculating cytotoxin (vacA), the cytotoxin associated genes (cagA), the induced by contact with epithelium factor antigen (iceA gene), blood adhesion binding antigen (babA2), and outer membrane protein oipA h...

Cytotoxin release by bone marrow-adherent cells and peritoneal macrophages was transiently augmented by i.p. inoculation of syngeneic tumor cells, but not normal cells. These effects were maximal 24-48 h after tumor transplantation. The cytotoxin released from bone marrow-adherent cells obtained 24 h after tumor inoculation had a molecular weight of about 70,000. Peritoneal macrophages obtained...

Infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK) caused by Moraxella bovis is the most common eye disease of cattle. The pathogenesis of M. bovis requires the expression of pili that enable the organism to attach to the ocular surface and an RTX (repeats in the structural toxin) toxin (cytotoxin or hemolysin), which is cytotoxic to corneal epithelial cells. In this pilot study, ocular mucosal immun...