Bacterial Enterotoxins: What’s New?

Dear Colleagues,

It gives us great pleasure to invite you to participate in this Special Issue of Toxins, and we would like to thank you in advance for your contribution. We have witnessed significant advancements in the field of enterotoxins since their discovery; perhaps the spark that ignited curiosity and interest among researchers is the proposition by R. Koch, and others, in 1887 that cholera involved a toxin [Koch, R. 1887. Die Cholerabacillen; ihr Nachweis, ihre Lebensiegenshaften und die Art ihrer Verbreitung. Arbt. Kaiserl. Ges. (1887). 3:155.]. In the following decades, progress in this area was slow but subsequently greatly expanded with the development of biophysical methods. These methods, used in the study of toxins, have been key to our understanding of their 3D structures, dynamics, interactions with their receptors, and their functions. Just over a decade following the sequencing of the first protein (insulin, by Frederick Sanger in 1949), the 3D structures of the first proteins, myoglobin and hemoglobin, were reported in 1958 by Sir John Cowdery Kendrew and Max Perutz, respectively.

During this same period, another key technique was being developed. Isidor Isaac Rabi received the Nobel prize in physics in 1944 for the discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and shortly afterwards Edward Mills Purcell and Felix Bloch received the Nobel prize in physics in 1952 for developing NMR spectroscopy. Since then, NMR spectroscopy has advanced to include multidimensional NMR, paving the way to resolving complex NMR spectra and allowing for the elucidation of the 3D structures and dynamics of smaller proteins.

Today, we have extensive knowledge of a large number of toxins and their functions, especially those elaborated by pathogenic Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, Clostridium perfringens, and Clostridium difficile, to name a few examples. The list is extensive and we continue to discover new microbial toxins today.

In addition to unraveling the key aspects of enterotoxins, such as the interaction with their receptors, host cell penetration, as well as their specific actions on their final targets, there have been great developments in vaccine design and their use as adjuvants. More recent developments include the immunological aspect of enterotoxins. These include correlation between enterotoxins and negative heart function as well as other immunological disorders. This Special Issue of Toxins will provide the reader with a collection of recent research findings in this field, and your contribution is greatly appreciated.

Dr. Mazen Saleh
Guest Editor

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