Islam, J, Taylor, A L, Rao, K, Huffnagle, G, Young, V B, Rajkumar, C, Cohen, J, Papatheodorou, P, Aronoff, D M and Llewelyn, M J (2014) The role of the humoral immune response to Clostridium difficile toxins A and B in susceptibility to C. difficile infection: a case-control study. Anaerobe, 27. pp. 82-86. ISSN 1095-8274

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Abstract

Antibody levels to Clostridium difficile toxin A (TcdA), but not toxin B (TcdB), have been found to determine risk of C. difficile infection (CDI). Historically, TcdA was thought to be the key virulence factor; however the importance of TcdB in disease is now established. We re-evaluated the role of antibodies to TcdA and TcdB in determining patient susceptibility to CDI in two separate patient cohorts. In contrast to earlier studies, we find that CDI patients have lower pre-existing IgA titres to TcdB, but not TcdA, when compared to control patients. Our findings suggest that mucosal immunity to TcdB may be important in the early stages of infection and identifies a possible target for preventing CDI progression.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	Brighton and Sussex Medical School > Global Health and Infection Brighton and Sussex Medical School > Clinical and Experimental Medicine
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0109 Infectious and parasitic diseases
Depositing User:	Martin Llewelyn
Date Deposited:	02 May 2014 10:33
Last Modified:	20 Sep 2017 11:13
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/48333

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