Clostridial toxins are among the largest bacterial toxins reported to date and C. difficile produces two potent toxins: Toxin A (TcdA), an enterotoxin and Toxin B (TcdB), a cytotoxin. It is the production of these toxins in the gastrointestinal tract that ultimately leads to disease. There is a relationship between toxin levels, the development of PMC, and the duration of diarrhea.
Levels of immunoglobulin G against TcdA correlate directly with protection from disease following colonization, suggesting that a robust immune response is sufficient for protection from C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD).
The role of TcdB is not as well understood. Naturally occurring Toxin A negative/Toxin B positive (TcdA-/TcdB+) strains have been identified from clinical isolates, which are capable of causing disease, even extensive PMC, suggesting a role for TcdB in CDAD. Toxin A has always been regarded as more important than Toxin B in infection. However, recent work utilizing mutant C. difficile strains which did not, or could not, produce Toxin A, and which were capable of producing very serious disease has led researchers to completely rethink the roles of Toxin A and Toxin B in CDAD. Toxin B was found to be responsible for the more serious damage to intestinal cells.
In addition to the primary virulence factors (Toxin A and Toxin B), C. difficile also produces a third toxin called the binary toxin (CDT). The prevalence of CDT in clinical isolates varies widely and its clinical relevance and role in pathogenicity are still not well defined.
