Garber G E, Lemchuk-Favel L T, Rousseau G
Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa General Hospital, Ontario, Canada.
J Clin Microbiol. 1991 Sep;29(9):1847-9. doi: 10.1128/jcm.29.9.1847-1849.1991.
Despite over 40 years of study, the pathogenetic mechanisms of Trichomonas vaginalis are just starting to be elucidated. We have recently reported that T. vaginalis produces a virulence factor, cell-detaching factor (CDF), that likely causes the cell sloughing seen in clinical disease. This 200-kDa glycoprotein is acid and heat labile and correlates with clinical symptoms. We applied a McCoy cell culture system to study the effects of various concentrations of beta-estradiol (10(-6) to 10(-10) M) on T. vaginalis growth and CDF production. T. vaginalis growth was unaffected by the different concentrations of beta-estradiol studied, in comparison with the growth of control cultures without beta-estradiol. However, beta-estradiol significantly diminished the activity of CDF at all concentrations and did so most profoundly at 10(-7) and 10(-8) M (P less than 0.0001). This suggests that the symptoms of T. vaginalis infection may be influenced by the vaginal concentration of estrogens, and further studies of the interactions between T. vaginalis and estrogens are warranted.
尽管经过了40多年的研究，阴道毛滴虫的致病机制才刚刚开始被阐明。我们最近报道，阴道毛滴虫产生一种毒力因子，即细胞分离因子（CDF），它可能导致临床疾病中所见的细胞脱落。这种200 kDa的糖蛋白对酸和热不稳定，且与临床症状相关。我们应用 McCoy 细胞培养系统来研究不同浓度的β-雌二醇（10^(-6)至10^(-10) M）对阴道毛滴虫生长和CDF产生的影响。与不含β-雌二醇的对照培养物的生长相比，所研究的不同浓度的β-雌二醇对阴道毛滴虫的生长没有影响。然而，β-雌二醇在所有浓度下均显著降低了CDF的活性，在10^(-7)和10^(-8) M时降低最为显著（P < 0.0001）。这表明阴道毛滴虫感染的症状可能受阴道内雌激素浓度的影响，因此有必要进一步研究阴道毛滴虫与雌激素之间的相互作用。
