Osaka: A group of researchers from Osaka clarified how botulinum toxin in the intestinal
tract invades the body. Though currently used in medicine, and cosmetics to reduce glabeller forehead frown lines, the botulinum neurotoxin, produced by bacterium Clostridium Botulinum is one of the most poisonous biological substances, known to
cause fatal food poisoning. This group's research has clarified that
hemagglutinin (HA), one of the nontoxic components of a botulinus toxin
complex, binds to GP2, a membrane protein expressed on M cells in the
intestinal epithelium, by which botulinus toxin invades the body through
M cells. This group's achievement could possibly contribute to the development
of preventive and therapeutic methods of botulism poisoning. The
application of this research may also lead to the development of new
transmucosal drug delivery systems and transmucosal vaccines by making
use of the invasion mechanism of botulinus toxin.
