alpha-chymotrypsin and Escherichia-coli-Infections

The StcE zinc metalloprotease is secreted by enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 and contributes to intimate adherence of this bacterium to host cells, a process essential for mammalian colonization. StcE has also been shown to localize the inflammatory regulator C1 esterase inhibitor (C1-INH) to cell membranes. We tried to more fully characterize StcE activity to better understand its role in EHEC pathogenesis. StcE was active at pH 6.1 to 9.0, in the presence of NaCl concentrations ranging from 0 to 600 mM, and at 4 degrees C to 55 degrees C. Interestingly, antisera against StcE or C1-INH did not eliminate StcE cleavage of C1-INH. Treatment of StcE with the proteases trypsin, chymotrypsin, human neutrophil elastase, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa elastase did not eliminate StcE activity against C1-INH. After StcE was kept at 23 degrees C for 65 days, it exhibited full proteolytic activity, and it retained 30% of its original activity after incubation for 8 days at 37 degrees C. Together, these results show the StcE protease is a stable enzyme that is probably active in the environment of the colon. Additionally, k(cat)/K(m) data showed that StcE proteolytic activity was 2.5-fold more efficient with the secreted mucin MUC7 than with the complement regulator C1-INH. This evidence supports a model which includes two roles for StcE during infection, in which StcE acts first as a mucinase and then as an anti-inflammatory agent by localizing C1-INH to cell membranes.

Topics: Antibodies, Bacterial; Chymotrypsin; Complement C1 Inhibitor Protein; Escherichia coli Infections; Escherichia coli O157; Escherichia coli Proteins; Humans; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Leukocyte Elastase; Metalloendopeptidases; Mucins; Pancreatic Elastase; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Salivary Proteins and Peptides; Temperature; Time Factors; Trypsin

The experience with treatment of 104 patients with non-specific pleural empyema without bronchial fistula is summarized. The local use of antibacterial agents in combination with proteolytic enzymes against the background of rational general immunocorrective therapy permitted to cure without operative intervention 124 patients. Four patients were operated on. They underwent decortication of a lung with pleurectomy. One patient died.

Topics: Acute Disease; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Chymotrypsin; Combined Modality Therapy; Drainage; Empyema; Escherichia coli Infections; Humans; Pseudomonas Infections; Staphylococcal Infections; Trypsin

The purified B subunit of heat-labile enterotoxin produced from a human strain, 240-3, of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (LTh(240-3] was carboxymethylated, succinylated, digested with chymotrypsin and subjected to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the amino acid compositions of the peptide peaks from the column were analyzed and compared with the data reported by Yamamoto and Yokota (J. Bacteriol. 155, 728.1983), who deduced the amino acid sequence of LTh(H10407) from the DNA sequence of a human strain H10407. Only one fraction differed in amino acid composition from that reported by them. This fraction was found to consist of peptides with the sequences Arg-Asn-Thr-Gln-Ile-Tyr and Arg-Ile-Ala-Tyr. Yamamoto and Yokota reported the sequence of the latter peptide as Arg-Ile-Thr*-Tyr, which corresponds to the peptide from 73rd to 76th from amino (N-) terminus. Thus amino acid residue 75 from the N-terminus of LTh-B(240-3) is alanine, not threonine. The B subunit of cholera toxin also has alanine at position 75. LTh(240-3) appeared similar to LTh(H10407) in an Ouchterlony test, vascular permeability test and GMI ganglioside ELISA. These data show that substitution of threonine for alanine at position 75 from the N-terminus does not affect the immunological and biological characteristics of LTh.

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Amino Acids; Bacterial Toxins; Chymotrypsin; Enterotoxins; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli Infections; Escherichia coli Proteins; Humans; Macromolecular Substances; Molecular Sequence Data; Peptide Fragments

The activity of the membrane-bound enzymes of the microvillous zone of the entreocytes (maltase, sucrase, trehalase, lactase, cellobiase, alkaline phosphatase and leucylaminopeptidase) was studied in mucosal smears from the proximal jejunum, ileum, caecum and sigmoid flexure in a group of control (C) (8) and germ-free (GF) (7) rabbits. The trypsin and chymotrypsin activity of the contents of the ileum, caecum and sigmoid flexure was studied in 6 C, 5 GF and 5 monocontaminated (MC) rabbits. In summing up it can be stated that the individual membrane-bound enzymes have a different gradient in the various intestinal segments of C and GF rabbits and that they differ reciprocally in character. The maximum statistically significant differences between GF and C rabbits were found in the ileum; in the jejunum they were somewhat smaller and in the caecum smaller still (in this localization the difference was C versus GF). Striking differences in the proportion of the individual disaccharidases were found inthe jejunum and ileum of C rabbits compared with GF rabbits, in which, in both these segments of small intestine the relationship maltase greater than sucrase greater than trehalase greater than lactase was preserved. The proteolytic activity of the intestinal contents likewise had a different gradient character in C, MC and GF rabbits. The maximum activities (especially trypsin) were found in MC animals. The microbial flora is one of the factors regulating the enzymatic activities of the microvillous zone of the enterocytes and it also significantly influences the proteolytic activity of the intestinal contents. This influence is particularly marked in the distal part of the alimentary tube.

Topics: Animals; Chymotrypsin; Escherichia coli Infections; Germ-Free Life; Glycoside Hydrolases; Hydrolases; Intestinal Mucosa; Intestine, Small; Rabbits; Trypsin