Mechanisms of Subversion of Innate Immune Clearance by the Extracellular Pathogen Yersinia enterocolitica

Yersinia enterocolitica is a frequent enteric pathogen in Germany, causing enteritis, mesenteric lymphadenitis and extraintestinal sequelae such as reactive arthritis. Yersiniae invade lymphatic tissue (Peyer‘s Patches, lymph nodes, spleen) and multiply extracellularly. This pathogenicity strategy requires a specific armament to resist serum complement attack, bactericidal activity of professional phagocytes and iron restriction. Yersiniae tranquilize phagocytes by injecting anti-host effector proteins that interfere with signal transduction cascades of host cells. The increasing knowledge of Yersinia pathogenicity has led to novel strategies to combat specifically this pathogen and to use this microbe as toolbox for studying pathogenicity factors of other pathogens and to develop new live vaccine carriers.

Professor Dr. Dr. Jürgen Heesemann is director of the Max von Pettenkofer-Institut of Hygiene and Medicinal Microbiology in Munich. Since 2006 he is president of the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie (DGHM). Jürgen Heesemann is a medical doctor and a specialist for microbiology and epidemiology of infections. Between 1976 and 1984 he received PhD degrees in physical chemistry (Dr. rer. nat.) and electrophysiology (Dr. med.), and finished his habilitation on medical microbiology, immunology and hygiene. His scientific work was honored by a numer of awards, including the ‚Aronson-Preis der Stadt Berlin‘ in 1998.

Moderation: Professor Dr. Uwe Völker