Xue Yaohua, Zheng Heping, Mai Zhida, Qin Xiaolin, Chen Wentao, Huang Tao, Chen Daxiang, Zheng Lei
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, No. 1838 North Guangzhou Road, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Department of Research Center, Dermatology Hospital of Southern Medical University/Guangdong Provincial Dermatology Hospital, No. 2 Lujing Road, Guangzhou 510091, China.
FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2017 Aug 1;364(14). doi: 10.1093/femsle/fnx145.
Single-dose azithromycin is recommended for treating Chlamydia trachomatis infections. Here, we established an in vitro cell model of azithromycin-induced persistent infection. Azithromycin inhibited the replication of C. trachomatis in a dose-time-dependent manner. Electron microscopy indicated that small inclusions in the induced model contained enlarged, aberrant and non-infectious reticulate bodies. RT-PCR showed that C. trachomatis still has the ability to express the unprocessed 16S rRNA gene in the model and that C. trachomatis recovered after the removal of azithromycin with a peak recovery time of 24 h. The mutations in 23S rRNA, L4 and L22 genes were not found in persistent infection, and qRT-PCR analysis showed that the relative expression level of euo in azithromycin treated infection was upregulated while omcB was downregulated. In summary, this study provides a novel in vitro cell model to examine the characteristics of azithromycin-induced persistent infection and contribute to the development of treatments for C. trachomatis infection.
单剂量阿奇霉素被推荐用于治疗沙眼衣原体感染。在此，我们建立了阿奇霉素诱导的持续性感染体外细胞模型。阿奇霉素以剂量-时间依赖性方式抑制沙眼衣原体的复制。电子显微镜检查表明，诱导模型中的小包涵体含有增大、异常且无感染性的网状体。逆转录聚合酶链反应显示，沙眼衣原体在该模型中仍有能力表达未加工的16S rRNA基因，并且在去除阿奇霉素后沙眼衣原体恢复，恢复高峰时间为24小时。在持续性感染中未发现23S rRNA、L4和L22基因的突变，定量逆转录聚合酶链反应分析表明，在阿奇霉素治疗的感染中，euo的相对表达水平上调，而omcB下调。总之，本研究提供了一种新型体外细胞模型，用于研究阿奇霉素诱导的持续性感染的特征，并有助于开发沙眼衣原体感染的治疗方法。
