Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States.
Front Immunol. 2019 Oct 17;10:2390. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.02390. eCollection 2019.
The host-pathogen interface is a crucial battleground during bacterial infection in which host defenses are met with an array of bacterial counter-mechanisms whereby the invader aims to make the host environment more favorable to survival and dissemination. Interestingly, the eukaryotic Wnt signaling pathway has emerged as a key player in the host and pathogen tug-of-war. Although studied for decades as a regulator of embryogenesis, stem cell maintenance, bone formation, and organogenesis, Wnt signaling has recently been shown to control processes related to bacterial infection in the human host. Wnt signaling pathways contribute to cell cycle control, cytoskeleton reorganization during phagocytosis and cell migration, autophagy, apoptosis, and a number of inflammation-related events. Unsurprisingly, bacterial pathogens have evolved strategies to manipulate these Wnt-associated processes in order to enhance infection and survival within the human host. In this review, we examine the different ways human bacterial pathogens with distinct host cell tropisms and lifestyles exploit Wnt signaling for infection and address the potential of harnessing Wnt-related mechanisms to combat infectious disease.
宿主-病原体界面是细菌感染过程中的一个关键战场，在这个战场上，宿主防御系统会遇到一系列细菌对抗机制，而入侵者则旨在使宿主环境更有利于生存和传播。有趣的是，真核 Wnt 信号通路已成为宿主与病原体拉锯战中的关键参与者。尽管 Wnt 信号通路作为胚胎发生、干细胞维持、骨骼形成和器官发生的调节剂已被研究了几十年，但最近已表明 Wnt 信号通路可控制人类宿主中与细菌感染相关的过程。Wnt 信号通路有助于细胞周期控制、吞噬作用和细胞迁移过程中的细胞骨架重组、自噬、细胞凋亡以及许多与炎症相关的事件。毫不奇怪，细菌病原体已经进化出操纵这些与 Wnt 相关的过程的策略，以增强在人类宿主中的感染和存活能力。在这篇综述中，我们研究了具有不同宿主细胞嗜性和生活方式的人类细菌病原体利用 Wnt 信号通路进行感染的不同方式，并探讨了利用与 Wnt 相关的机制来对抗传染病的潜力。
