Clostridium perfringens toxins (type A, B, C, D, E)

Clostridum perfringens types A,B,C,D, and E produce at least 12 different antigens, referred to as toxins, that may be involved in pathogenesis. These antigens have been given the names alpha, beta, epsilon, and iota toxin (‘major’ toxins), and delta, theta, kappa (collagenase), lambda (protease), mu (hyaluronidase), nu (deoxyribonuclease), gamma and eta toxin (‘minor’ toxins). An enterotoxin and neuraminidase are also produced by certain strains. Significant progress has been made in characterizing alpha and theta toxin, and the enterotoxin, but relatively little is known about the other toxins. A variety of disease syndromes are believed to be caused by one or more of each of these toxins though their exact role in disease is not clear in most cases.