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Review
. 2024 Aug 7;12(8):1610.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms12081610.

Clostridium perfringens in the Intestine: Innocent Bystander or Serious Threat?

Xuli Ba  1   2 , Youshun Jin  1   2 , Xuan Ning  1   2 , Yidan Gao  3 , Wei Li  1 , Yunhui Li  2 , Yihan Wang  2 , Jizhang Zhou  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Clostridium perfringens in the Intestine: Innocent Bystander or Serious Threat?

Xuli Ba et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

The Clostridium perfringens epidemic threatens biosecurity and causes significant economic losses. C. perfringens infections are linked to more than one hundred million cases of food poisoning annually, and 8-60% of susceptible animals are vulnerable to infection, resulting in an economic loss of more than 6 hundred million USD. The enzymes and toxins (>20 species) produced by C. perfringens play a role in intestinal colonization, immunological evasion, intestinal micro-ecosystem imbalance, and intestinal mucosal disruption, all influencing host health. In recent decades, there has been an increase in drug resistance in C. perfringens due to antibiotic misuse and bacterial evolution. At the same time, traditional control interventions have proven ineffective, highlighting the urgent need to develop and implement new strategies and approaches to improve intervention targeting. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the spatial and temporal evolutionary characteristics, transmission routes, colonization dynamics, and pathogenic mechanisms of C. perfringens will aid in the development of optimal therapeutic strategies and vaccines for C. perfringens management. Here, we review the global epidemiology of C. perfringens, as well as the molecular features and roles of various virulence factors in C. perfringens pathogenicity. In addition, we emphasize measures to prevent and control this zoonotic disease to reduce the transmission and infection of C. perfringens.

Keywords: C. perfringens; Zoonotic pathogen; global epidemics; toxins.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Roadmap of C. perfringens.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Diseases caused by C. perfringens. (b) The direction of research on C. perfringens (Top 10): (I) Global (II) the United States (III) the United Kingdom (IV) China.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Literature published on C. perfringens in the past 7 years.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) Vascular pathogenesis of C. perfringens CPA: C. perfringens alpha toxin, CPB: C. perfringens beta toxin, ETX: Epsilon toxin, G-CSFR: granulocyte colony-stimulating factor receptor, MEKK: mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase, MKK4: mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 4, MKK7: mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 7, JNK: c-Jun N-terminal kinase (B) Intestinal pathogenesis of C. perfringens. Cp: C. perfringens, CPB: C. perfringens beta toxin, CPE: C. perfringens enterotoxin, CPI: Iota toxin, NetB: Necrotizing Enterocolitis B-like toxin, LSR: lipolysis-stimulated lipoprotein receptor. + denotes promotion and − denotes inhibition.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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