Mock Michèle, Mignot Tâm
Toxines et Pathogénie Bactériennes (URA 2172, CNRS), Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724, Paris cedex 15, France.
Cell Microbiol. 2003 Jan;5(1):15-23. doi: 10.1046/j.1462-5822.2003.00253.x.
Although the dramatic events of the year 2001 have revitalized the interest in anthrax, research on Bacillus anthracis and its major virulence factors is one of the oldest theme in microbiology and started with the early works of Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur. The anthrax toxins are central to anthrax pathogenesis. They were discovered in the mid-1950s and since then there has been an enormous amount of work to elucidate both the molecular and physiopathological details of their mode of action. In this review, after a brief introduction of B. anthracis, we will focus on the latest findings that concern two aspects of anthrax toxin research: the environmental signals and the molecular mechanisms that regulate toxin synthesis, and the mechanisms of intoxication. We hope to convince the reader that the anthrax toxins are highly specialized determinants of B. anthracis pathogenicity: their synthesis is integrated within a global virulence programme and they target key eukaryotic cell proteins. We conclude with a consideration of the therapeutic perspectives arising from our current knowledge of how the toxins work.
尽管2001年的重大事件重新激发了人们对炭疽的兴趣，但对炭疽芽孢杆菌及其主要毒力因子的研究却是微生物学中最古老的主题之一，始于罗伯特·科赫和路易·巴斯德的早期工作。炭疽毒素是炭疽发病机制的核心。它们于20世纪50年代中期被发现，自那时以来，人们进行了大量工作以阐明其作用方式的分子和生理病理细节。在本综述中，在简要介绍炭疽芽孢杆菌之后，我们将重点关注炭疽毒素研究两个方面的最新发现：调节毒素合成的环境信号和分子机制，以及中毒机制。我们希望让读者相信，炭疽毒素是炭疽芽孢杆菌致病性的高度特异性决定因素：它们的合成整合在一个整体毒力程序中，并且它们靶向关键的真核细胞蛋白。我们最后考虑了基于我们目前对毒素作用方式的了解而产生的治疗前景。
