ABSTRACT
This chapter examines mechanisms by which the various classes of pathogens adhere to host cells, molecules and inanimate objects such as catheters and prostheses. It considers the barrier epithelia and the molecules on their surfaces to which microbes adhere. The host cell surface receptors bound by microbial adhesins are, essentially, any molecule that is exposed on the host cell membrane. The hair shafts, hair follicles and their associated sebaceous glands, and eccrine and apocrine glands all serve as sites for adhesion to, and subsequent penetration of, the skin. Most of the studies of microbial adhesion in humans have focused on abiotic surfaces such as human dental enamel and have employed oral bacteria. Adhesins binding to sugars that are part of glycoproteins, glycolipids, proteoglycans and glycoaminoglycans displayed on the membrane of host cells or in conditioning films are the most common way by which microbes bind to surfaces.
