Title |
MINIREVIEW] EAST1 toxin: An enigmatic molecule associated with sporadic episodes of diarrhea in humans and animals |
Author |
J. Daniel Dubreuil* |
Address |
Faculté de médecine vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Québec J2S 2M2, Canada |
Bibliography |
Journal of Microbiology, 57(7),541–549, 2019,
|
DOI |
10.1007/s12275-019-8651-4
|
Key Words |
Escherichia coli, EAST1 toxin, enteroaggregative,
diarrhea, outbreak |
Abstract |
EAST1 is produced by a subset of enteroaggregative Escherichia
coli strains. This toxin is a 38-amino acid peptide of 4100
Da. It shares 50% homology with the enterotoxic domain of
STa and interacts with the same receptor. The mechanism
of action of EAST1is proposed to be identical to that of STa
eliciting a cGMP increase. EAST1 is associated with diarrheal
disease in Man and various animal species including cattle
and swine. Nevertheless, as EAST1-positive strains as well as
culture supernatants did not provoke unequivocally diarrhea
either in animal models or in human volunteers, the role of
this toxin in disease is today still debated. This review intent
is to examine the role of EAST1 toxin in diarrheal illnesses. |