Abstract: T.pallidum (TP) is an extracellular pathogen with the strong capability of tissue invasion. TP is not only able to spread widely in the body, but penetrate a variety of physiological barriers of the human body. The adhesion of TP to host cells depends on the presence of bacterial surface adhesion proteins. In recent years, kinds of TP adhesion proteins (including the functions and structures of them) have been found and studied. In this paper, several important adhesion proteins are reviewed.

Key words: trepanema pallidum, adhesion, outer membrane protein