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BACTERIAL PATHOGENESIS

Novel C. difficile toxin receptor

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 20, page 317 (2022)Cite this article

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Clostridioides difficile expresses up to three different toxins and expression patterns can explain virulence phenotypes; for example, the hypervirulent clade 2 exclusively expresses the TcdB2 and TcdB4 toxin variants. Whereas the cellular receptor for other TcdB variants was known, the receptor for TcdB2 and TcdB4 was unknown. Luo, Yang, Zhang, Zhang, Wan et al. performed a genome-wide CRISPR–Cas screen for TcdB4 binding and identified tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), which is expressed in intestinal crypts, as its receptor. Structural analysis showed that variation in the common receptor-binding domain of TcdB was responsible for variant-specific receptor binding, with TcdB4 and TcdB2 sharing the same specificity for TFPI. Finally, treatment with recombinant TFPI protected mice from TcdB2 toxicity.

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Original article

  • Luo, J. et al. TFPI is a colonic crypt receptor for TcdB from hypervirulent clade 2 C. difficile. Cell 185, 980–994.e15 (2022)

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  1. Nature Reviews Microbiology http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/

    Ursula Hofer

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  1. Ursula Hofer
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Correspondence to Ursula Hofer.

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Hofer, U. Novel C. difficile toxin receptor. Nat Rev Microbiol 20, 317 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00730-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00730-z

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