Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli isolates from cases of human disease show enhanced adherence to intestinal epithelial (Henle 407) cells.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains are a diverse group of organisms which are known to cause diarrhea and hemorrhagic colitis in humans. We have recently described a large food-borne outbreak of STEC disease caused by contaminated semidry fermented sausage (A. W. Paton, R. Ratcliff, R. M. Doyle, J. Seymour-Murray, D. Davos, J. A. Lanser, and J. C. Paton, J. Clin. Microbiol. 34:1622-1627, 1996). STEC strains belonging to several O serotypes were isolated from the contaminated food source, but of these, only a subset were isolated from patients with diarrhea or hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). In the present study, we characterized these STEC isolates with respect to the presence of putative virulence-associated genes and the capacity to adhere to a human intestinal epithelial cell line (Henle 407). The O111:H- STEC strain 95NR1 (isolated from one of the outbreak HUS patients) was shown to adhere to Henle 407 cells in a dose-dependent, mannose-resistant fashion. Microscopic examination revealed a diffuse pattern of adherence for this as well as several other STEC strains. Interestingly, the adherence of STEC strains from HUS cases (both outbreak related and sporadic) was significantly greater than that of STEC strains found in the contaminated food source but not found in any patients. These studies support the hypothesis that an enhanced capacity to adhere to intestinal cells is one of the factors which distinguishes human-virulent STEC strains from those of lesser clinical significance.