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Critical Care
Published in: Critical Care 6/2008

01-12-2008 | Commentary

What is a virulence factor?

Author: Alan S Cross

Published in: Critical Care | Issue 6/2008

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Abstract

Bacterial virulence factors enable a host to replicate and disseminate within a host in part by subverting or eluding host defenses. The use of genomic techniques has led to the identification of new virulence factors that may serve as targets for new therapies. These putative virulence factors must be rigorously evaluated with in vitro and in vivo studies with an awareness of the technical limitations of each approach as well as an assessment of the prevalence of this factor in clinical bacterial isolates retrieved from appropriately controlled epidemiologic studies.
Literature
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Cross A, Asher L, Seguin M, Yuan L, Kelly N, Hammack C, Sadoff J, Gemski P: The importance of a lipopolysaccharide-initiated, cytokine-mediated host defense mechanism in mice against extraintestinally invasive Escherichia coli. J Clin Invest. 1995, 96: 676-686. 10.1172/JCI118110.PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed
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Cross AS, Gemski P, Sadoff JC, Orskov F, Orskov I: The importance of the K1 capsule in invasive infections caused by E. coli. J Infect Dis. 1984, 149: 184-193.CrossRefPubMed
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Kasper DL, Winkelhake JL, Zollinger WD, Brandt BL, Artenstein MS: Immunochemical similarity between polysaccharide antigens of Escherichia coli 07: K1(L):NM and group B Neisseria meningitides. J Immunol. 1973, 110: 262-268.PubMed
Metadata
Title
What is a virulence factor?
Author
Alan S Cross
Publication date
01-12-2008
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Critical Care / Issue 6/2008
Electronic ISSN: 1364-8535
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/cc7127

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