TY - JOUR
T1 - Gastrointestinal coinfection promotes chlamydial pathogenicity in the genital tract
AU - Tian, Qi
AU - Zhou, Zengzi
AU - Wang, Luying
AU - Abu-Khdeir, Al Mutassim Hani
AU - Huo, Zhi
AU - Sun, Xin
AU - Zhang, Nu
AU - Schenken, Robert
AU - Wang, Yufeng
AU - Xue, Min
AU - Zhong, Guangming
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2020 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - Sexually transmitted Chlamydia, which can cause fibrotic pathology in women's genital tracts, is also frequently detected in the gastrointestinal tract. However, the medical significance of the gastrointestinal Chlamydia remains unclear. A murine Chlamydia readily spreads from the mouse genital tract to the gastrointestinal tract while inducing oviduct fibrotic blockage or hydrosalpinx. We previously proposed a two-hit model in which the mouse gastrointestinal Chlamydia might induce the second hit to promote genital tract pathology, and we are now providing experimental evidence for testing the hypothesis. First, chlamydial mutants that are attenuated in inducing hydrosalpinx in the genital tract also reduce their colonization in the gastrointestinal tract, leading to a better correlation of chlamydial induction of hydrosalpinx with chlamydial colonization in the gastrointestinal tract than in the genital tract. Second, intragastric coinoculation with a wild-type Chlamydia rescued an attenuated Chlamydia mutant to induce hydrosalpinx, while the chlamydial mutant infection in the genital tract alone was unable to induce any significant hydrosalpinx. Finally, the coinoculated gastrointestinal Chlamydia failed to directly spread to the genital tract lumen, suggesting that gastrointestinal Chlamydia may promote genital pathology via an indirect mechanism. Thus, we have demonstrated a significant role of gastrointestinal Chlamydia in promoting pathology in the genital tract possibly via an indirect mechanism. This study provides a novel direction/dimension for further investigating chlamydial pathogenic mechanisms.
AB - Sexually transmitted Chlamydia, which can cause fibrotic pathology in women's genital tracts, is also frequently detected in the gastrointestinal tract. However, the medical significance of the gastrointestinal Chlamydia remains unclear. A murine Chlamydia readily spreads from the mouse genital tract to the gastrointestinal tract while inducing oviduct fibrotic blockage or hydrosalpinx. We previously proposed a two-hit model in which the mouse gastrointestinal Chlamydia might induce the second hit to promote genital tract pathology, and we are now providing experimental evidence for testing the hypothesis. First, chlamydial mutants that are attenuated in inducing hydrosalpinx in the genital tract also reduce their colonization in the gastrointestinal tract, leading to a better correlation of chlamydial induction of hydrosalpinx with chlamydial colonization in the gastrointestinal tract than in the genital tract. Second, intragastric coinoculation with a wild-type Chlamydia rescued an attenuated Chlamydia mutant to induce hydrosalpinx, while the chlamydial mutant infection in the genital tract alone was unable to induce any significant hydrosalpinx. Finally, the coinoculated gastrointestinal Chlamydia failed to directly spread to the genital tract lumen, suggesting that gastrointestinal Chlamydia may promote genital pathology via an indirect mechanism. Thus, we have demonstrated a significant role of gastrointestinal Chlamydia in promoting pathology in the genital tract possibly via an indirect mechanism. This study provides a novel direction/dimension for further investigating chlamydial pathogenic mechanisms.
KW - Chlamydia
KW - Gastrointestinal colonization
KW - Genital pathology
KW - Gut chlamydia
KW - Hydrosalpinx
KW - Pathogenesis
KW - Tubal fibrosis
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U2 - 10.1128/IAI.00905-19
DO - 10.1128/IAI.00905-19
M3 - Article
C2 - 31988173
AN - SCOPUS:85082342105
SN - 0019-9567
VL - 88
JO - Infection and immunity
JF - Infection and immunity
IS - 4
M1 - e00905-19
ER -