Adherence of pathogens to extracellular matrix proteins and host cells is one of the essential steps in the microbial colonization of the human organism. The adhesion of C. glabrata, i.e. the second major causative agent of human disseminated candidiases after C. albicans, to the host epithelium mainly engages specific fungal cell wall proteins - epithelial adhesins (Epa) - in particular, Epa1,...

background:isolates of staphylococcus aureus express a myriad of adhesive surface proteins that play important role in colonization of the bacteria on nasal and skin surfaces, beginning the process of pathogenesis. the aim of this study was to screen several of the microbial surface components recognizing adhesive matrix molecules (mscramms) genes among the isolate of s. aureus from hospitalize...

The active form of fibronectin is its extracellular matrix form, which allows for the attachment of cells and influences both the growth and migration of cells. The matrix form is assembled by cells; however, many cells are defective in this regard. Several regions within fibronectin have been shown to play a role in matrix assembly by cells. One such region has been localized into the first ty...

We previously reported monocyte-derived multipotential cells (MOMCs), which include progenitors capable of differentiating into a variety of mesenchymal cells and endothelial cells. In vitro generation of MOMCs from circulating CD14(+) monocytes requires their binding to extracellular matrix (ECM) protein and exposure to soluble factor(s) derived from circulating CD14(-) cells. Here, we investi...

Complement factor H (FH) and factor-H-like protein 1 (FHL-1) are human plasma proteins with regulatory functions in the alternative pathway of complement activation. FH and FHL-1 are organized in repetitive elements termed short consensus repeats (SCRs) and the seven SCRs of FHL-1 are identical with the N-terminal domain of the 20 SCRs of FH. The fourth SCR of both proteins (SCR 4) includes the...

The recently isolated 4-1BB cDNA clone encodes a cell surface protein expressed by activated T cells. Its extracellular domain is homologous to members of the nerve growth factor receptor super family and its cytoplasmic domain contains a sequence homologous to the binding site for the T-cell-specific tyrosine kinase p56lck found in the cytoplasmic domains of CD4 and CD8 alpha. At present the f...

Fibronectin-binding proteins (FnBPs) of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes mediate invasion of human endothelial and epithelial cells in a process likely to aid the persistence and/or dissemination of infection. In addition to binding sites for the N-terminal domain (NTD) of fibronectin (Fn), a number of streptococcal FnBPs also contain an upstream region (UR) that is closely asso...

In previous studies it was shown that transformation of AKR fibroblasts with 3-methylcholanthrene was associated with a loss of surface fibronectin and that induction of differentiation of the transformed cells with N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) was associated with reacquisition of surface fibronectin (Chakrabarty et al., J. Cell. Physiol. 133:415, 1987). It is shown in the present study that cha...