The Route Less Taken: Pulmonary Models of Enteric Gram-negative Infection

摘要

Many pathogens are capable of causing a fulminant infection in pulmonary tissues of mammals. Animal models have provided an extensive understanding of the genetic and molecular mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis as well as host immune response in the lungs. Many clinically relevant Gram-negative bacteria are host restricted. Thus, the powerfully informative tools of mouse models are not available for study with these organisms. However, over the past 30 years, enterprising work has demonstrated the utility of pulmonary infection with enteric pathogens. Such infection models have increased our understanding host-pathogen interactions in these organisms. Here we provide a review and comparison of lung models of infection with enteric Gram-negative bacteria relative to naturally occurring lung pathogens.