a Department of Microbiology ; Monash University ; Clayton , Victoria , Australia.
Gut Microbes. 2014;5(5):579-93. doi: 10.4161/19490976.2014.969632.
The worldwide emergence of epidemic strains of Clostridium difficile linked to increased disease severity and mortality has resulted in greater research efforts toward determining the virulence factors and pathogenesis mechanisms used by this organism to cause disease. C. difficile is an opportunist pathogen that employs many factors to infect and damage the host, often with devastating consequences. This review will focus on the role of the 2 major virulence factors, toxin A (TcdA) and toxin B (TcdB), as well as the role of other putative virulence factors, such as binary toxin, in C. difficile-mediated infection. Consideration is given to the importance of spores in both the initiation of disease and disease recurrence and also to the role that surface proteins play in host interactions.
全球流行的与疾病严重程度和死亡率增加相关的艰难梭菌流行株促使人们加大了对该病原体致病机制和毒力因子的研究力度。艰难梭菌是一种机会致病菌，它利用多种因子感染和破坏宿主，常带来毁灭性的后果。本综述将重点关注 2 种主要毒力因子——毒素 A（TcdA）和毒素 B（TcdB），以及二元毒素等其他潜在毒力因子在艰难梭菌感染中的作用。同时还考虑了孢子在疾病起始和复发中的重要性，以及表面蛋白在宿主相互作用中的作用。
