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REVIEW article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Molecular Bacterial Pathogenesis
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1465460

Unveiling the Hidden Arsenal: New Insights into Proteus mirabilis Vir ulence in UTIs

Provisionally accepted
Aoyu Yang Aoyu Yang 1Yuchong Tian Yuchong Tian 2Xiancheng Li Xiancheng Li 1*
  • 1 Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
  • 2 Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Proteus mirabilis is a Gram-negative bacterium commonly found in urinary tract infections (UTIs) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). The pathogenic mechanisms of Proteus mirabilis are complex and diverse, involving various virulence factors, including fimbriae, flagella, urease, polyphosphate kinase, lipopolysaccharides, cyclic AMP receptor protein, Sigma factor RpoE, and RNA chaperone protein Hfq. These factors play crucial roles in bacterial colonization, invasion, evasion of host immune responses, biofilm formation, and urinary stone formation. This paper is the first to comprehensively describe the hydrogenase system, autotransporter proteins, molybdate-binding protein ModA, and two-component systems as virulence factors in Proteus mirabilis, providing new insights into its pathogenic mechanisms in urinary tract infections. This review explores the mechanisms of biofilm formation by Proteus mirabilis and the various virulence factors involved in UTIs, revealing many newly discovered virulence factors from recent studies. These findings may offer new targets for clinical treatment of UTIs and vaccine development, highlighting the importance of understanding these virulence factors.

    Keywords: Urinary Tract Infections, Catheter-associated urinary tract infections, Virulence Factors, Biofilm formation, urinary stone formation, Proteus mirabilis

    Received: 16 Jul 2024; Accepted: 18 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yang, Tian and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xiancheng Li, Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.