The emergence of pathogens resistant to conventional antimicrobial agents has forced us to intensify the efforts in search for new approaches to prevent infectious diseases. Such a direction was indicated in studies over the last two decades showing that adhesion of pathogens, primarily via glycoconjugate or protein receptors of the host tissue, is crucial for the infectious process. Moreover, it was found that infection can be prevented by blocking adhesion of the pathogen to mucosal surfaces of the host. The various aspects of interference with the process of microbial adhesion as a way of preventing diseases were the subject of the Bat-Sheva Seminar, "Towards Anti-Adhesion Therapy of Microbial Infectious Diseases," held in Zichron Yaakov, Israel, February 25 to March I, 1996. A major aim of the Bat-Sheva de Rothschild Foundation for the Advancement of Science in Israel, which sponsors a series of seminars, ours among them, is to provide the necessary tools and settings for international forums and exposure of young scientists and promising students to the state of the art of the field. This goal has been achieved during the week's discussions, and its major aspects are presented in this compendium. The seminar's participants, as well as the readers of this book, thank the founder and Foundation for their support. This book includes the major themes of this rapidly growing area. However, by no means do we intend to cover every bit and piece in it. The book's first section deals with the lectin-sugar interactions and their inhibitors.

Attachment to host cells or tissues is often the first step in the establishment of bacterial infections. A complex array of recognition, attachment, and virulence factors is involved in this process, which recent research has greatly illuminated. This comprehensive and authoritative volume discusses the specific cell and tissue-specific affinities of pathogenic microorganisms, including bioinorganic surfaces such as teeth, and is an essential reference for researchers and students of host-pathogen interactions.

Over the last few years, bacterial adhesion has become a more and more important and active scientific area, but the field lacks communication and scientific exchange between medical and microbiology researchers who work with the relevant biological systems, and biochemists, structural biologists and physicists, who know and understand the physical methods best suited to investigate the phenomenon at the molecular level. The field consequently would benefit from a cross-disciplinary conference enabling such communication. This book tries to bridge the gap between the disciplines.

It has been 80 years since the subject of bacterial adhesion to surfaces was first brought forth, but only in the last two decades has the importance of this subject been recognized by medical microbiologists. The fact that bacterial attachment to the host tissue is a prerequisite for infection understandably led to the hope that infections could be prevented by blocking the adhesion of pathogenic bacteria. Progress in this field has been so rapid that it has become difficult to keep up with recent developments. This book contains the proceedings of the symposium on the Molecular Mechanisms of Microbial Adhesion, May 6-8, 1988. Both the symposium and this book were intended as an up-to-date review of the most recent findings concerning the adhesion of medically important bacteria. In addition, this book contains critical and provocative overviews of the past, present and future of this field.

Yuehuei An, MD, and Richard Friedman, MD, FRCSC, assemble the first comprehensive treatment of bacterial adhesion, with major concentration on the powerful experimental methods for its study in biomaterials and tissue. Written by acknowledged experts in the field, these detailed techniques facilitate the study of implant infections in a wide range of devices, including orthopedic prostheses, cardiovascular devices, cerebrospinal fluid shunts and extradural catheters, urological catheters and stents, oral and maxillofacial implants, and even contact lenses. Methods for the study of microbial adhesion to such tissues as respiratory and intestinal mucosa, the urinary tract, and teeth are also included. Comprehensive and highly practical, the Handbook of Bacterial Adhesion: Principles, Methods, and Applications offers biomedical scientists and bioengineering researchers an all-in-one experimental guide to today's best techniques for understanding the nature, mechanisms, and prevention of bacterial adhesion.

For most pathogenic bacteria, the adherence to host cells is a crucial step for infection. Therefore, targeting bacterial attachment could be a potential way for treating bacterial infections. This thesis focuses on the interactions between the adhesin Multivalent Adhesion Molecule (MAM7) from the commensal Escherichia coli strain HS with host receptors, aiming to understand the molecular basis of these interactions. Targeting the interactions between MAM7 and host cells was one of this study's aims towards developing anti-bacterial agents. In this study, HSMAM7 based adhesion inhibitors- beads coupled to HSMAM7 and an engineered bacterium expressing HSMAM7- were designed and their role as anti-adhesion agents against pathogenic bacteria was investigated. This study demonstrates that HSMAM7 based inhibitors have the ability to displace pathogenic bacteria from the host cells. Dissecting the binding of HSMAM7 to host receptors was the second part of this study. The findings revealed that HSMAM7 binds to sulfatide, several components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and mucin. Further investigation of the interaction between HSMAM and host receptors revealed that HSMAM7 binds to mucin and the host lipid sulfatides via specific recognition of a shared 3-O-sulfo-galactosyl moiety in a sulfation dependent manner. Sulfatase-producing Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron affect the binding of HSMAM7 to mucin. HSMAM7 binding to mucin was inhibited in the presence of B. thetaiotaomicron and that means the commensal E. coli would be free and able to attach to the host epithelial cells, a finding of potential relevance for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs).

The molecular age has brought about dramatic changes in medical microbiology, and great leaps in our understanding of the mechanisms of infectious disease. Molecular Medical Microbiology is the first book to synthesise the many new developments in both molecular and clinical research in a single comprehensive resource. This timely and authoritative three-volume work is an invaluable reference source of medical bacteriology. Comprising more than 100 chapters, organized into 17 major sections, the scope of this impressive work is wide-ranging. Written by experts in the field, chapters include cutting-edge information, and clinical overviews for each major bacterial group, in addition to the latest updates on vaccine development, molecular technology and diagnostic technology. Topics covered include bacterial structure, cell function, and genetics; mechanisms of pathogenesis and prevention; antibacterial agents; and infections ranging from gastrointestinal to urinary tract, centrtal nervous system, respiratory tract, and more. The first comprehensive and accessible reference on molecular medical microbiology Full color presentation througout In-depth discussion of individual pathogenic bacteria in a system-oriented approach Includes a clinical overview for each major bacterial group Presents the latest information on vaccine development, molecular technology, and diagnostic technology More than 100 chapters covering all major groups of bacteria Written by an international panel of authors who are experts in their respective disciplines