A. Scharfman et al., INTERACTIONS BETWEEN GLYCOCONJUGATES FROM HUMAN RESPIRATORY AIRWAYS AND PSEUDOMONAS-AERUGINOSA, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 154(4), 1996, pp. 163-169
Citations number
59
Categorie Soggetti
Emergency Medicine & Critical Care","Respiratory System
Pseudomonas aeruginosa binds to different glycoconjugates in vitro. As
six other bacteria, it binds to several glycolipids, mainly asialo GM
1 and asialo GM2. Asialo GM1 has been reported to exist at the surface
of cystic fibrosis cells. The binding of P. aeruginosa to asialo GM1
involves the pill, especially the C-terminal part of pilin that recogn
izes the GalNAc(beta 1,4)Gal sequence of asialo GM1. P. aeruginosa may
also bind to sialylated membrane-bound glycoproteins. Human salivary
and respiratory mucins are also recognized by P. aeruginosa. Mucins re
present the main components of mucus. The peptide part (apomucin) of t
his broad family of secreted glycoproteins is encoded by several mucin
genes. The apomucins are covered by a large number of carbohydrate ch
ains that can be remarkably different and represent a mosaic of sites
for attachment of microorganisms. The binding of P. aeruginosa to muci
ns involves outer membrane proteins and mucin carbohydrate chains that
are structurally different from the carbohydrate recognized by pilin.
Airway and salivary mucins secreted by patients suffering from cystic
fibrosis (CF) show alterations in their carbohydrate moiety. The incr
eased sulfation of airway mucins seems to correspond to a primary defe
ct. Other abnormalities such as increased sialylation or fucosylation
have also been detected. The binding of P. aeruginosa to airway or sal
ivary mucins is increased in CF. However, the precise link between the
carbohydrate alterations and the increased binding of P. aeruginosa t
o CF mucins remains to be elucidated.