Immunological consequences of the interaction of enterohemorrhagic E. coli with the organised lymphoid tissues of the gut

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Attaching and effacing Enterohemorrhagic E.coli (EHEC) in cattle and man, enteropathogeneric E.coli in man and rabbits and Citrobacter rodentiumin mice all show tropism for the surface of the organised lymphoid tissue of the gut. Other data suggests that EPEC and intimin can down-regulate or activate cells of the immune system. We propose that the tropism of these bacteria for the organised lymphoid tissue of the gut is to allow the organisms to modulate host responses and compromise mucosal anti-bacterial immunity. In this work we will investigate whether EHEC can modulate dendritic cell (DC) function in human Peyers patches using ex vivo culture models, and investigate their direct interaction with the myeloid dendritic cells which lie below the follicle epithelium and which send processes onto the surface of the follicles.