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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Implementation of a Permeable Membrane Insert-based Infection System to Study the Effects of Secreted Bacterial Toxins on Mammalian Host Cells
Published on: August 19, 2016
Manipulation of host Kruppel-like factor (KLF) function by exotoxins from diverse bacterial pathogens
Eoin O'Grady1, Heidi Mulcahy, Claire Adams
1BIOMERIT Research Centre, Department of Microbiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
Abstract:
Diverse pathogenic bacteria have developed similar mechanisms to subvert host cell responses. In this Progress article, we focus on bacterial virulence factors with different enzymatic activities that can increase the expression of the Kruppel-like factor (KLF) family of mammalian transcriptional regulators through their ability to modify the activity of a common host-cell target - the Rho protein family. By using a common virulence strategy, both Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens exploit the KLF regulatory cascade to modulate nuclear factor kappaB activation, pro-inflammatory cytokine expression, actin cytoskeletal dynamics and phagocytosis.
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