Binding Specificity of Piliated Strains of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium to Epithelial Cells, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cells, and Erythrocytes

The binding to mammalian cells of piliated enteric bacteria and the inhibition of the binding by antibodies to purified pili were studied. The target cells were epithelial cells from human bucca and human and rat urinary tracts, erythrocytes from various species, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. The strains were selected to represent the two main agglutination patterns of enteric bacteria: mannose-resistant agglutination of human and other erythrocytes and mannose-sensitive agglutination of guinea pig and other erythrocytes. Escherichia coli 3669 caused only mannose-resistant agglutination, E. coli 6013 caused only mannose-sensitive agglutination, and E. coli 3048 caused both types of agglutination simultaneously. Salmonella typhimurium SH6749 exhibited only mannose-sensitive hemagglutination and was included to allow comparison of its pili with those of E. coli strains. The range of epithelial cells to which the bacteria adhered was related to their agglutination patterns. All four strains attached to human buccal cells. Only E. coli strains 3669 and 3048, which caused mannose-resistant agglutination, adhered to human urinary tract epithelial cells, and only those strains that caused mannose-sensitive agglutination adhered to rat urinary tract epithelial cells. The binding of S. typhimurium SH6749, but not of the other strains with mannose-sensitive agglutination, was significantly inhibited by d-mannose. Globotetraosylceramide, a glycolipid present in the human urinary tract epithelium, inhibited attachment to human uroepithelial cells of the two strains with mannose-resistant hemagglutination. As tested by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, cross-reactions between type 1 pili of the E. coli strains were strong, but those between S. typhimurium and E. coli mannose-sensitive pili were weak. The two pili that induced mannose-resistant hemagglutination on E. coli did not cross-react. Significant inhibition of adhesion of all four strains was obtained with the homologous anti-pilus antiserum. The binding of bacteria to mammalian cells may thus be mediated by several types of bacterial pili reacting with different receptors on mammalian cells.