Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0001511 (Adhesion)
 5,955 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Adhesion of gonococci to mucosal epithelial cells appear to be a critical step in the pathogenesis of gonococcal infection. Parameters affecting adhesion, the antigens involved in adhesion and the human antibody response that blocks adhesion have been studied. Gonococci adhere to a variety of human cells grown either in tissue culture or organ culture or scraped from mucosal surfaces. They adhere in greatest number to mucosal cells derived from sites of natural infection but buccal mucosal cells were used for most of these studies because of the ease of obtaining them, the homogeneous population obtained, and the similarity of the results of antibody studies with all cell types. The ability of a given strain of gonococci to attach to buccal cells (receptors) varied with the individual from whom the cells were obtained, and the capacity to support adhesion of a given strain fluctuated from day to day. The principal antigens mediating attachment are pili (filamentous protein appendages extending from the bacterial cell wall) which are antigenically heterogeneous. Lipopolysaccharide also blocks attachment but it is less efficient than pili and is not species-specific. Other antigens, probably proteins, also block attachment. Human antibody (both local and humoral) blocked the adhesion of gonococci. The antibody was directed against pili and the antigens in naturally occurring disease and could be induced by immunizing subjects with purified pili. The results of these studies suggest two new approaches to the prevention of gonorrhoea: (1) (competitive) inhibition of the adhesion with specific antigens, i.e. pili; and (2) immunization with purified attachment antigens to produce shielding antibodies.
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PMID:Adhesion of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and disease. 611 20

Interaction of Neisseria gonorrhoeae with the oviductal epithelium in vitro was examined in 2 cm length segments obtained after surgical sterilization from users of copper T intrauterine device (IUD) or Norplant and control women. Segments perfused with N.gonorrhoeae suspensions were incubated from 30 min up to 4 h, fixed, frozen and cut in 6--10 microm sections. Bacteria were detected immunohistochemically with rabbit anti-gonococcal serum followed by light and confocal microscopy. Adhesion and internalization of gonococci by epithelial cells were observed at all incubation times, and both were higher in explants from users of copper T IUD or Norplant implants than controls. The epithelium of controls expressed CD66 and syndecan-1; but CD46 was found in only one out of six cases. The epithelium of copper T IUD users expressed CD66 but not syndecan-1 or CD46. Users of Norplant exhibited expression of CD46, CD66 and syndecan-1. Label was always found along the luminal border of the epithelium. There were more intraepithelial lymphocytes in users of contraceptive methods than in controls. Results indicate that (i) N.gonorrhoeae invade the oviductal epithelium from the first minutes of exposure, (ii) the epithelium is constitutively endowed with two known receptors for the gonococcus, CD66 and syndecan-1, (iii) copper T IUD and Norplant users exhibit higher rates of attachment and internalization of the gonococcus into the oviductal epithelium associated with changes in expression of gonococcal receptors.
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PMID:Increased adhesiveness and internalization of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and changes in the expression of epithelial gonococcal receptors in the Fallopian tube of copper T and Norplant users. 1122 12