Christodoulides M, Everson J S, Liu B L, Lambden P R, Watt P J, Thomas E J, Heckels J E
Molecular Microbiology Group, University of Southampton Medical School, UK.
Mol Microbiol. 2000 Jan;35(1):32-43. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2000.01694.x.
Infection of the endometrium by Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a pivotal stage in the development of pelvic inflammatory disease in women. An ex vivo model of cultures of primary human endometrial cells was developed to study gonococcal-host cell interactions. To facilitate these studies, gonococci were transformed with a hybrid shuttle vector containing the gfp gene from Aequoria victoria, encoding the green fluorescent protein (GFP), to produce intrinsically fluorescent bacteria. The model demonstrated that both pili and Opa proteins were important for both mediating gonococcal interactions with endometrial cells and inducing the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Pil+ gonococci showed high levels of adherence and invasion, regardless of Opa expression, which was associated with increased secretion of IL-8 chemokine and reduced secretion of IL-6 cytokine. Gonococcal challenge also caused increased secretion of TNF-alpha cytokine, but this did not correlate with expression of pili or Opa, suggesting that release of components from non-adherent bacteria may be involved in TNF-alpha induction. Thus, the use of cultured primary endometrial cells, together with gonococci expressing green fluorescent protein, has the potential to extend significantly our knowledge, at the molecular level, of the role of this important human pathogen in the immunobiology of pelvic inflammatory disease.
淋病奈瑟菌感染子宫内膜是女性盆腔炎发展过程中的一个关键阶段。为了研究淋球菌与宿主细胞的相互作用，建立了一种原代人子宫内膜细胞培养的体外模型。为便于这些研究，用含有来自维多利亚水母的gfp基因（编码绿色荧光蛋白（GFP））的杂交穿梭载体转化淋球菌，以产生内在荧光细菌。该模型表明，菌毛和Opa蛋白对于介导淋球菌与子宫内膜细胞的相互作用以及诱导促炎细胞因子和趋化因子的分泌都很重要。无论Opa表达如何，菌毛阳性淋球菌都表现出高水平的黏附和侵袭，这与IL-8趋化因子分泌增加和IL-6细胞因子分泌减少有关。淋球菌攻击也导致TNF-α细胞因子分泌增加，但这与菌毛或Opa的表达无关，表明非黏附细菌成分的释放可能参与了TNF-α的诱导。因此，使用培养的原代子宫内膜细胞以及表达绿色荧光蛋白的淋球菌，有可能在分子水平上显著扩展我们对这种重要人类病原体在盆腔炎免疫生物学中作用的认识。
