Alternative treatment approaches of urinary tract infections caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most widespread and annoying infections affecting millions of people every year annually. The biggest problems of urinary diseases are recurrences, increasing resistance of uropathogens to commonly used antibiotics, as well as the high health care costs of afflicted persons. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains (UPECs) are the most dominant etiologic agents of community-acquired infections of this type.

Analysis of the unique structural and physicochemical properties of the DraD/AfaD invasin in the context of its belonging to the family of chaperone/usher type fimbrial subunits.

Background: DraD invasin encoded by the dra operon possesses a classical structure characteristic to fimbrial subunits of the chaperone/usher type. The Ig-fold of the DraD possesses two major characteristics distinguishing it from the family of fimbrial subunits: 1) a distortion of the β-barrel structure in the region of the acceptor cleft, demonstrated by a disturbance of the main-chain hydrogen bonds network, and 2) an unusually located disulfide bond connecting B and F strands - the localization exclusively observed in the subfamily of DraD/AfaD-type subunits.

Results: To evaluate the influence of the DraD-sc specific structural features on its stability and mechanism of thermal denaturation, a series of DSC and FT-IR denaturation experiments were performed giving following conclusions.

Biofilm formation as a virulence determinant of uropathogenic Escherichia coli Dr+ strains.

Urinary tract infections are the most common health problem affecting millions of people each year. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strains are the major factor causing lower and upper urinary tract infections. UPEC produce several virulence factors among which are surface exposed adhesive organelldes (pili/fimbriae) responsible for colonization, invasion and amplification within uroepithelial cells.