Campylobacter Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Campylobacter, including details on food poisoning, infection, symptoms, treatment.

Mechanisms underlying Campylobacter fetus pathogenesis in humans: surface-layer protein variation in relapsing infections.

Tu ZC, Gaudreau C, Blaser MJ

Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA.

Campylobacter fetus causes gastrointestinal and systemic infections in humans. Although relapse is common despite antibiotic treatment, the mechanisms are not well understood. The surface-layer proteins (SLPs) of C. fetus, which are critical in virulence, undergo high-frequency phenotypic switching due to recombination of sap homologues, resulting in antigenic variation. To investigate the mechanisms involved in relapsing C. fetus infections, we compared SLP variation in 4 pairs of C. fetus strains that infect humans; initial and follow-up isolations were performed 20 days to 34 months apart. Of the 4 pairs of strains, 2 had antigenic variation, and another provided evidence for selection for SLP-positive populations. Southern hybridization indicated recombination underlying the SLP variation and up-regulation. The fourth pair had the same SLP antigenic profile and sap homologue hybridization pattern, which is consistent with latency of the original strain in a privileged locus. In total, these findings indicate that relapse may reflect at least 3 differing pathogenetic pathways.

Published 17 May 2005 in J Infect Dis, 191(12): 2082-9.
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