Li Qiao, Hasan Nihal, Zhao Fei, Xue Ying, Zhu Sizhe, Lv Yin, Jiang Ling-Yu, Yang Kun, Li Wenjin, Zhang Yingmiao, He Yingxia, Cai Huahua, Ding Honghui, Klena John D, Anisimov Andrey P, Wang Shao-Gang, Chen Hongxiang, Ye Chenglin, Yuan Jingping, Chen Tie
Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Sciences and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Infect Agent Cancer. 2025 Jun 21;20(1):40. doi: 10.1186/s13027-025-00667-x.
One of the hallmarks of lung cancers is the earlier metastasis resulting from the dissemination of cancer cells. Although accumulating evidence suggests that bacterial infection may be involved in the development of the metastasis of lung cancer, few studies have explored the molecular mechanisms of bacterial infection in the dissemination of lung cancer cells. A series of studies have indicated that certain Gram-negative bacteria are able to hijack antigen-presenting cells (APCs) via interaction with DC-SIGN (CD209) receptors to facilitate the dissemination of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Therefore, in the present work, it was hypothesized that bacterial infection may promote the dissemination of cancer cells via the utilization of a similar mechanism. It was first discovered that human lung cancer tissues contain a very high diversity of bacterial DNAs, indicating the co-existence of lung cancer tissues and microbial organisms. It was then found that lung cancer tissues express DC-SIGN, leading to binding with a Gram-negative bacterium, Shigella sonnei. Further, this bacterium was found to be able not only to induce the expression of DC-SIGN on macrophages but also to enhance the migration ability of lung cancer cells in vitro. The in vivo experiments supported these observations, showing that in wild-type (WT) mice, Shigella sonnei infection significantly increased tumor size, weight, and metastatic nodules compared to SIGNR1 knockout (KO) mice. These observations were associated with increasing DC-SIGN expression in WT mice. Finally, these results suggest that bacterial infections could play a significant role in promoting lung cancer progression and metastasis via DC-SIGN-mediated mechanisms.
肺癌的特征之一是癌细胞扩散导致的早期转移。尽管越来越多的证据表明细菌感染可能参与肺癌转移的发生,但很少有研究探讨细菌感染在肺癌细胞扩散中的分子机制。一系列研究表明,某些革兰氏阴性菌能够通过与DC-SIGN(CD209)受体相互作用劫持抗原呈递细胞(APC),以促进包括病毒、细菌、真菌和寄生虫在内的病原体的传播。因此,在本研究中,我们假设细菌感染可能通过利用类似机制促进癌细胞的扩散。首先发现,人类肺癌组织中细菌DNA的多样性非常高,这表明肺癌组织与微生物共存。随后发现,肺癌组织表达DC-SIGN,导致其与革兰氏阴性菌宋内志贺菌结合。此外,还发现这种细菌不仅能够诱导巨噬细胞上DC-SIGN的表达,还能增强肺癌细胞在体外的迁移能力。体内实验支持了这些观察结果,表明在野生型(WT)小鼠中,与SIGNR1基因敲除(KO)小鼠相比,宋内志贺菌感染显著增加了肿瘤大小、重量和转移结节。这些观察结果与WT小鼠中DC-SIGN表达的增加有关。最后,这些结果表明,细菌感染可能通过DC-SIGN介导的机制在促进肺癌进展和转移中发挥重要作用。