Therefore, prevention of adhesion at an early stage following the exposure of the host to pathogens should prevent the disease.īacteria can adapt to many noxious or deleterious agents, either by mutation, by acquisition of new genetic material via horizontal transfer or by phenotypic variation. Thus, the adherent state is advantageous for bacterial survival and a key step in pathogenesis. Such bacteria are better able to acquire nutrients, further enhancing their ability to survive and infect the host. Moreover, bacteria assume a significantly greater resistance to clearance by normal cleansing mechanisms and to killing by normal immune factors, bacteriolytic enzymes and antibiotics when they are adherent to surfaces. It is well established that adhesion of enteric, oral and respiratory bacteria is required for colonization and for subsequent development of disease. Anti-adhesive drugs, once developed, may, therefore, serve as a new means to fight infectious diseases.Ĭranberry, Carbohydrate, Fimbria 1 IntroductionĪnti-adhesion therapy and anti-adhesin immunity are meant to reduce contact between host tissues and pathogens, either by prevention or reversal of adhesion of the infectious agent. ![]() Because anti-adhesive agents are not bactericidal, the propagation and spread of resistant strains is much less likely to occur than as a result of exposure to bactericidal agents, such as antibiotics. Here we review various approaches to anti-adhesion therapy, including the use of receptor and adhesin analogs, dietary constituents, sublethal concentrations of antibiotics and adhesin-based vaccines. The validity of this approach has been unequivocally demonstrated in experiments performed in a wide variety of animals, from mice to monkeys, and recently also in humans. An attractive approach is the use of agents that interfere with the ability of the bacteria to adhere to tissues of the host, since such adhesion is one of the initial stages of the infectious process. ![]() The alarming increase in drug-resistant bacteria makes a search for novel means of fighting bacterial infections imperative.
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