Cholera-like enterotoxin produced by Campylobacter jejuni. Characterisation and clinical significance
Ruiz-Palacios, G.M.; Torres, J.; Torres, N.I.; Escamilla, E.; Ruiz-Palacios, B.R.; Tamayo, J.
Lancet 2(8344): 250-253
1983
ISSN/ISBN: 0140-6736 PMID: 6135079 Document Number: 214611
The presence and clinical significance of enterotoxins produced by C. jejuni [C. fetus ssp. jejuni] were investigated. The supernatant of a prototype virulent strain grown in supplemented medium induced intraluminal fluid secretion in rat ileal loop but not in rabbit ileal loop or the infant mouse assay. It induced elongation and increased intracellular cAMP levels in Chinese hamster ovary cells. Toxin activity was blocked by cholera antitoxin and was destroyed by heat and high or low pH; its MW is in the range 104-105 daltons. Toxin production was detected in 24 of 32 C. jejuni strains from patients with diarrhea and 1 of 6 from carriers. Antibody response to autologous C. jejuni somatic antigen was investigated in 19 subjects for whom serial serum specimens were available. A 4-fold rise was observed in all 10 patients with enterotoxigenic C. jejuni diarrhea, in 1 of 3 patients with non-enterotoxigenic C. jejuni and in none of the symptomless carriers of non-enterotoxigenic strains. Thus, C. jejuni produces an enterotoxin that may be important in pathogenesis of diarrhea.