Ohara Masaru, Oswald Eric, Sugai Motoyuki
Department of Bacteriology, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan.
J Biochem. 2004 Oct;136(4):409-13. doi: 10.1093/jb/mvh154.
Cytolethal distending toxin (Cdt) is a newly added member of bacterial protein toxins that hijack the control system of eukaryotic cells. Cdts are produced by several pathogenic bacteria causing chronic infectious diseases. They are composed of three subunits, CdtA, CdtB and CdtC, which together form a ternary complex. CdtB is the active component, and CdtA and CdtC are involved in delivering the CdtB into the cells. The sophisticated strategy of Cdt to control host cells is CdtB-mediated limited DNA damage of the host cell chromosome, which triggers the response of the cell cycle checkpoint and results in G2 arrest in the cells. Cdt also induces apoptotic cell death of lymphocytes, which may be relevant to onset or persistence of chronic infection by the producing bacteria. The study of this toxin is expected to provide us information on a novel strategy by which bacteria interact with host cells.
细胞致死性膨胀毒素（Cdt）是细菌蛋白毒素中新添加的成员，它会劫持真核细胞的控制系统。Cdt由几种导致慢性感染性疾病的致病细菌产生。它们由三个亚基CdtA、CdtB和CdtC组成，共同形成一个三元复合物。CdtB是活性成分，CdtA和CdtC参与将CdtB递送至细胞内。Cdt控制宿主细胞的复杂策略是CdtB介导的宿主细胞染色体有限的DNA损伤，这会触发细胞周期检查点的反应并导致细胞G2期停滞。Cdt还诱导淋巴细胞凋亡性细胞死亡，这可能与产生该毒素的细菌引起的慢性感染的发生或持续存在有关。对这种毒素的研究有望为我们提供有关细菌与宿主细胞相互作用的新策略的信息。
