A novel pathway for exotoxin delivery by an intracellular pathogen.

Fundamental to the biology of many bacterial pathogens are bacterial proteins with the capacity to modulate host cellular functions. These bacterial proteins are delivered to the host's molecular targets by a great diversity of mechanisms of varying complexity. The different delivery mechanisms are adapted to the specific biology of the pathogen. Here we focus our attention on a recently described delivery pathway adapted to the biology of an intracellular pathogen, in which an exotoxin is delivered from an intracellular location to its molecular target through autocrine and paracrine pathways.