Mechanisms protecting host cells against bacterial pore-forming toxins

Cellular Entry of Binary and Pore-Forming Bacterial Toxins

This Special Issue of Toxins, entitled “Cellular Entry of Binary and Pore-Forming Bacterial Toxins,” gives a sense of the recent advances in characterizing the functional and structural aspects of this broad scientific problem that goes beyond the classical field of toxinology and microbiology and spills into the general areas of biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular and cell biology. The con...

Pore-Forming Toxins Induce Macrophage Necroptosis during Acute Bacterial Pneumonia

Necroptosis is a highly pro-inflammatory mode of cell death regulated by RIP (or RIPK)1 and RIP3 kinases and mediated by the effector MLKL. We report that diverse bacterial pathogens that produce a pore-forming toxin (PFT) induce necroptosis of macrophages and this can be blocked for protection against Serratia marcescens hemorrhagic pneumonia. Following challenge with S. marcescens, Staphyloco...

Role of pore-forming toxins in bacterial infectious diseases.

Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) are the most common bacterial cytotoxic proteins and are required for virulence in a large number of important pathogens, including Streptococcus pneumoniae, group A and B streptococci, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. PFTs generally disrupt host cell membranes, but they can have additional effects independent of pore formation....

Mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways defend against bacterial pore-forming toxins.

Cytolytic pore-forming toxins are important for the virulence of many disease-causing bacteria. How target cells molecularly respond to these toxins and whether or not they can mount a defense are poorly understood. By using microarrays, we demonstrate that the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans responds robustly to Cry5B, a member of the pore-forming Crystal toxin family made by Bacillus thuringi...

Enhanced SnapShot: Pore-Forming Toxins