Adherence of an enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strain, serotype O78:H11, to purified human intestinal brush borders.

The human enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli pathogen designated H10407 expresses two different types of surface pili, one designated type 1 pili and the other designated colonization factor antigen I (CFA/I), CFA/I pili are thought to promote the adherence of H10407 to the mucosa of the human small bowel. H10407 was grown under conditions which promoted the expression of either type 1 pili or CFA/I pili, and in each case, the adherence of H10407 to purified human intestinal brush borders was quantitated. The adherence assays revealed that H10407 adhered to human brush borders only when it expressed CFA/I pili. It appears that in vitro adherence of H10407 to human intestinal epithelial cells is dependent on the expression of CFA/I.