In vitro assay of bacterial adhesion onto mammalian epithelial cells

To cause infections, bacteria must colonize their host. Bacterial pathogens express various molecules or structures able to promote attachment to host cells(1). These adhesins rely on interactions with host cell surface receptors or soluble proteins acting as a bridge between bacteria and host. Adhesion is a critical first step prior to invasion and/or secretion of toxins, thus it is a key event to be studied in bacterial pathogenesis. Furthermore, adhered bacteria often induce exquisitely fine-tuned cellular responses, the studies of which have given birth to the field of 'cellular microbiology'(2). Robust assays for bacterial adhesion on host cells and their invasion therefore play key roles in bacterial pathogenesis studies and have long been used in many pioneer laboratories(3,4). These assays are now practiced by most laboratories working on bacterial pathogenesis. Here, we describe a standard adherence assay illustrating the contribution of a specific adhesin. We use the Escherichia coli strain 2787(5), a human pathogenic strain expressing the autotransporter Adhesin Involved in Diffuse Adherence (AIDA). As a control, we use a mutant strain lacking the aidA gene, 2787ΔaidA (F. Berthiaume and M. Mourez, unpublished), and a commercial laboratory strain of E. coli, C600 (New England Biolabs). The bacteria are left to adhere to the cells from the commonly used HEp-2 human epithelial cell line. This assay has been less extensively described before(6).