Uptake and Trafficking of Protein Toxins

Holger BarthInstitute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Ulm Medical Center, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89081 Ulm, Germany, e-mail: holger.barth@uni-ulm.de

• Two feet on the membrane: uptake of clostridial neurotoxins.- Receptors and binding structures for Clostridium difficile Toxins A and B.- Cell entry of C3 exoenzyme from Clostridium botulinum.- Receptor-binding and up-take of binary actin-ADP-ribosylating toxins.- Clostridial Binary Toxins: Basic Understandings that Include Cell-Surface Binding and an Internal “Coup de Grace”.- Host cell chaperones Hsp70/Hsp90 and peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerases are required for the membrane translocation of bacterial ADP-ribosylating toxins.- Multivalent Inhibitors of Channel-Forming Bacterial Toxins.- Toxin Transport by A-B Type of Toxins in Eukaryotic Target Cells and its inhibition by Positively Charged Heterocyclic Molecules.