ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America1998
Bacteroides fragilis enterotoxin cleaves the zonula adherens protein, E-cadherin.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1998. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 230 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
230 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 387 citations in OpenAlex.
- Identification of host gene-microbiome associations in colorectal cancer patients using mendelian randomization.Journal of translational medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Meta-Analysis of Altered Gut Microbiota Reveals Microbial and Metabolic Biomarkers for Colorectal Cancer.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Pooled it
- A systemic review of the role of enterotoxic Bacteroides fragilis in colorectal cancer.Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.) · 2022Pooled it
- Functionally declining microbiota in chronic disease: beyond taxonomic loss.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- The protease code of the bacterial gut microbiota: ecological regulation, barrier disruption, and rewiring host defense and signaling.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Review
- Fusobacterium nucleatum enhances enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis-mediated neuron loss and intestinal motility dysfunction.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Intratumoral microbiota in tumorigenesis: A double-edged sword.Chinese medical journal · 2026Review
- Review
- An anaerobic pathogen rewires host metabolism to fuel oxidative growth in the inflamed gut.Cell · 2026Article
- Orally available designed miniproteins inhibit enterotoxigenicbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
- The "Direct Structural Disruption" Hypothesis:Toxins · 2026Review
- Article
- Repurposing Drugs as Bacteroides fragilis BFT-3 Inhibitors in the Animal Infection Model Galleria mellonella.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Article
- The Barrier-Microbiota-Inflammation Axis in Colorectal Cancer: Mechanisms and Emerging Diagnostic & Therapeutic Strategies.Cancers · 2026Review
- Gut microbiome-driven colorectal cancer via immune, metabolic, neural, and endocrine axes reprogramming.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Review
- Microbiome dysbiosis and its modulation in cancer development, prevention and therapy.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Microbiome and cancer: mechanistic insights, diagnostic potential, and therapeutic strategies.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
170 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Strains of Bacteroides fragilis associated with diarrheal disease (enterotoxigenic B. fragilis) produce a 20-kDa zinc-dependent metalloprotease toxin (B. fragilis enterotoxin; BFT) that reversibly stimulates chloride secretion and alters tight junctional function in polarized intestinal epithelial cells. BFT alters cellular morphology and physiology most potently and rapidly when placed on the basolateral membrane of epithelial cells, suggesting that the cellular substrate for BFT may be present on this membrane. Herein, we demonstrate that BFT specifically cleaves within 1 min the extracellular domain of the zonula adherens protein, E-cadherin. Cleavage of E-cadherin by BFT is ATP-independent and essential to the morphologic and physiologic activity of BFT. However, the morphologic changes occurring in response to BFT are dependent on target-cell ATP. E-cadherin is shown here to be a cellular substrate for a bacterial toxin and represents the identification of a mechanism of action, cell-surface proteolytic activity, for a bacterial toxin.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.