Typhoid fever as cellular microbiological model

• Main Authors: Andrade Dahir Ramos de, Andrade Júnior Dahir Ramos de
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo 2003-01-01
• Series: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Subjects: Typhoid Fever; Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi; Cellular Microbiology; Bacteria-Cell interaction
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0036-46652003000400002

The knowledge about typhoid fever pathogenesis is growing in the last years, mainly about the cellular and molecular phenomena that are responsible by clinical manifestations of this disease. In this article are discussed several recent discoveries, as follows: a) Bacterial type III protein secretion system; b) The five virulence genes of Salmonella spp. that encoding Sips (Salmonella invasion protein) A, B, C, D and E, which are capable of induce apoptosis in macrophages; c) The function of Toll R2 and Toll R4 receptors present in the macrophage surface (discovered in the Drosophila). The Toll family receptors are critical in the signalizing mediated by LPS in macrophages in association with LBP and CD14; d) The lines of immune defense between intestinal lumen and internal organs; e) The fundamental role of the endothelial cells in the inflammatory deviation from bloodstream into infected tissues by bacteria. In addition to above subjects, the authors comment the correlation between the clinical features of typhoid fever and the cellular and molecular phenomena of this disease, as well as the therapeutic consequences of this knowledge.