Summary
Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) cause haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS),a thrombotic microangiopathy resulting
from endothelial injury in the renal glomeruli and other organs. EHEC virulence factors
that damage the microvascular endothelium play therefore major roles in the pathogenesis
of HUS.We identified an EHEC strain that vacuolates and kills primary human glomerular
microvascular endothelial cells (GMVECs) and a human brain microvascular endothelial
cell (HBMEC) line. Because the vacuolating effect closely resembles those elicited
on other cells by the vacuolating cytotoxin of Helicobacter pylori (VacA), we designated the factor responsible for this effect EHEC vacuolating cytotoxin
(EHEC-Vac). EHEC-Vac (a secreted non-serine protease protein) binds to HBMECs rapidly
and irreversibly, vacuolates within 30 min after exposure and the effect is maximally
apparent at 48 h. Despite the vacuolisation, HBMECs survive for several days before
they undergo necrosis. Electron and immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrate that
the vacuoles induced by EHEC-Vac originate from lysosomes.Accordingly, they stain
with neutral red indicating an acidic microenvironment. Similar to VacA, the EHEC-Vac-mediated
vacuolisation is both prevented and reverted by the vacuolar proton pump inhibitor
bafilomycin A1, suggesting a similar mechanism of vacuole formation by these toxins.
Despite the similarity of phenotypes elicited by EHEC-Vac and VacA, genomic DNA from
the EHEC-Vac-producing strain failed to hybridise to a vacA probe, as well as to probes derived from presently known E. coli vacuolating toxins.Through its microvascular endothelium-injuring potential combined
with the ability to induce interleukin 6 release from these cells EHEC-Vac might contribute
to the pathogenesis of HUS.
Keywords
Enterohaemorrhagic
E. coli
- haemolytic uraemic syndrome - vacuolating cytotoxin - EHEC-Vac - microvascular endothelial
injury