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Updated: Sep 21, 2026

Enteric Bacterial Invasion Of Intestinal Epithelial Cells In Vitro Is Dramatically Enhanced Using a Vertical Diffusion Chamber Model
Published on: October 22, 2013
Campylobacter jejuni--microtubule-dependent invasion
1Laboratory of Enteric and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, FDA-Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Bldg 29/420, NIH Campus, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. kopecko@cber.fda.gov
Abstract:
Campylobacter jejuni is the leading bacterial cause of food-borne illness worldwide and a major cause of Guillain-Barré paralysis. Recent molecular and cellular studies of one well-characterized C. jejuni strain have begun to unravel the details of an unusual microtubule-dependent (actin-filament-independent) gut-invasion mechanism, through which at least some C. jejuni initiate disease. Although responsible for causing a human dysenteric syndrome remarkably similar to that triggered by Shigella spp., current evidence suggests that C. jejuni use some markedly different molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis compared with shigellae.
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