NIAID’s Role in E. coli Research
NIAID-supported researchers are using basic, clinical, and applied research to find new ways to detect, treat, and prevent foodborne diseases.
NIAID supports several research studies on Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), including E. coli O157:H7. Researchers have sequenced the genome of E. coli O157:H7 and compared it with the genome of the harmless E. coli K12. Seventy percent of the two genomes are identical, and the genome of E. coli O157:H7 is about 30 percent larger than K12. As researchers compare and contrast these and other strains of E. coli, their ability to answer key questions in evolution and disease processes will become easier. The NIAID also supports the STEC Center, designed to facilitate the study of these bacteria. The Center serves as a repository for strains, characterizes the strains, and then distributes the strains to researchers.
Investigators are further defining the ways by which the Shiga toxins produced by STEC result in the kidney damage leading to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS). HUS, a serious complication of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, can lead to kidney failure. The primary goal of this research is to better understand how kidney disease progresses and how it may be prevented. Researchers are designing and testing monoclonal antibodies and other therapies to treat STEC infection, and thus prevent progression to the severe HUS. Further studies are exploring vaccines to prevent STEC in animals and humans.
NIAID-supported scientists, in collaboration with Japanese colleagues, discovered that antibiotic therapy did not improve the outcomes of children with bloody diarrhea. Some antibiotics were even harmful, resulting in the release of more bacterial toxins and an increased risk of severe complications, including kidney damage and subsequent HUS.
Finally, NIAID is supporting research on new approaches for more effective therapeutics for enteric pathogens. Enteric disease occurs in the context of a vast natural, protective community of helpful bacteria. Treatment with antibiotics eliminates beneficial bacteria as well as disease-causing agents, leading to great risks of dangerous secondary, drug-resistant infections. NIAID-supported scientists have used the science of genomics to identify special small molecules that stop bacteria from producing toxins and other virulence factors. NIAID-supported research has also uncovered complex communications systems in bacteria that allow pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7 to hide until they can launch coordinated attacks with overwhelming numbers. Researchers have designed small molecule inhibitors that interfere with the communications among pathogens with the aim of developing safe drugs that blunt the attack of pathogens.
See E. coli Research.
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