Abstract
Infectious diseases remain an important global health problem. The interaction of a wide range of pathogen bacteria with host cells from many different tissues is frequently mediated by proteoglycans. These compounds are ubiquitous complex molecules which are not only involved in adherence and colonization, but can also participate in other steps of pathogenesis. To overcome the problem of microbial resistance to antibiotics new therapeutic agents could be developed based on the characteristics of the interaction of pathogens with proteoglycans.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in high-income countries people predominantly die of chronic diseases, whereas infectious diseases in low-income countries cause almost one third of all deaths (World Health Organization, 2014b)
This review focuses on describing the role of PGs and GAGs in the principal human infectious diseases caused by bacteria (Table 2)
The infection is caused by Bordetella pertussis, which expresses filamentous hemagglutinin adhesin (FHA), which binds to sulfated GAGs by its C-terminal to initiate the infection of bronchial epithelial cells (Hannah et al, 1994)
Summary
Infectious diseases remain an important global health problem. The interaction of a wide range of pathogen bacteria with host cells from many different tissues is frequently mediated by proteoglycans. These compounds are ubiquitous complex molecules which are involved in adherence and colonization, but can participate in other steps of pathogenesis. To overcome the problem of microbial resistance to antibiotics new therapeutic agents could be developed based on the characteristics of the interaction of pathogens with proteoglycans. Reviewed by: Uday Kishore, Brunel University London, UK Nina Ivanovska, Institute of Microbiology, Bulgaria. Specialty section: This article was submitted to Microbial Physiology and Metabolism, a section of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.
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