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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 278, Issue 36, 33878-33886, September 5, 2003
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¶
From the
Unité de Pathogénie
Microbienne Moleculaire et Unité INSERM 389, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue
du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15 and the
Institut de Génétique et de
Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire,1 Rue Laurent Fries, 67404 ILLKIRCH
Cedex, Strasbourg, France
Received for publication, April 10, 2003 , and in revised form, June 12, 2003.
| ABSTRACT |
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. The invasive and non-invasive strains
enhanced transcription of a common pattern of 240 genes, among which genes
encoding isoforms of cytochrome P-450 were induced. These genes were not
induced by TNF-
. Conversely, both the invasive strain and TNF-
induced a common set of 18 genes, mainly encoding proinflammatory molecules.
They also induced specific sets of genes. The transcriptome induced by the
invasive strain was characterized by the induction of early genes
(i.e. expressed within the first 45 min of invasion) and late genes
(i.e. after 60 min of invasion) whose pattern was strongly biased
toward stimulation of granulopoiesis, chemoattraction, activation, and
adherence of polymorphonuclear leukocytes. When compared with a non-invasive
Shigella and TNF-
, invasive Shigella induced a narrow
transcriptome that seems to program infected epithelial cells to recruit a
mucosal polymorphonuclear leukocyte to infiltrate. Dramatic increase in
IL-8 gene transcription points to this chemokine as the major
molecule orchestrating mucosal inflammation in shigellosis. | INTRODUCTION |
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Recent studies point to infected intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) as major players in the inflammatory process, both as sentinels achieving bacterial sensing and as effectors producing mediators, particularly cytokines and chemokines, which initiate and orchestrate mucosal inflammation (7). Mechanisms of recognition of invasive pathogens by IEC are not yet fully understood. Although the signaling cascades that elicit invasion in response to bacterial invasions may also affect proinflammatory signals, current evidence indicates that recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns is likely to dominate (8). Extracellular recognition relies on Toll-like receptors (TLR) (9), particularly TLR5, a receptor for flagellin, (10, 11) which is constitutively expressed by IEC, and possibly TLR2 and TLR4, which recognize bacterial lipoproteins and lipopolysaccharide, respectively, although their expression or actual function in IEC is still a matter of debate, particularly in absence of expression of CD14 (12, 13). In the case of Shigella, which is non-flagellated, most recent evidence indicates that bacterial recognition by IEC occurs intracellularly via an "inside-in" signaling pathway involving intracellular pathogen-associated molecular pattern recognition (14) by a cytosolic molecule, Nod1/CARD4 (15, 16). Gram-negative peptidoglycan is the agonist of Nod1 intracellularly.2
Both TLR and Nod lead to activation of the proinflammatory transcriptional
factor, NF-
B (14,
15,
17,
18). However, it is likely
that the proinflammatory potential of invaded IEC does not simply reflect
NF-
B activation. The transcriptional pattern of these cells is likely
to encompass a complex combination of activation and repression of several
transcriptional systems. NF-
B dominates among these systems, as
reflected by the release of IL-8, a common denominator to a variety of
invasive microorganisms and epithelial cell types
(19). In vivo, the
production of IL-8 is largely associated with infected IEC, as demonstrated in
the rabbit-ligated loop model of shigellosis. In this model, neutralization of
IL-8 causes massive decrease of PMN recruitment, resulting in protection of
the epithelium against inflammatory destruction, but also in uncontrolled
growth of bacteria in the lamina propria
(20). Therefore, in
shigellosis, the innate immune response corresponds to a balance between
bacterial eradication and destruction of the mucosa. IL-8 produced by IEC
plays a major role in this process, although the complexities and subtleties
of transcriptional regulation leading to this particular profile are currently
unknown and probably vary depending on the nature of the invasive
microorganism and timing of the infectious process. In addition, with time,
the epithelial response is likely to increasingly reflect a response to the
proinflammatory cytokines that are massively released, such as TNF-
,
which plays a major role in epithelial destruction in experimental shigellosis
(21). In addition, when
bacteria reach subepithelial tissues, they encounter other cell populations,
particularly resident macrophages and recruited monocytes that will impose
their own profile of response, which is dominated by CD14/TLR4 recognition of
Shigella lipopolysaccharide, as shown by the dramatic changes in
mucosal response observed either upon CD14 neutralization
(22) or upon infection by a
Shigella mutant that was genetically engineered to express a
non-endotoxic lipid A
(21).
To provide a detailed analysis of the transcriptional response of IEC
invaded by S. flexneri (i.e. 45 min to 4 h), we have applied
the Affymetrix microarray technology. Thus, the transcriptome of the human
colonic Caco-2 cell line was established upon its infection with strain M90T,
which expresses an invasive phenotype, due to the presence of the 213-kb
virulence plasmid (23). The
M90T-induced transcriptome was compared with the transcriptomes obtained by
infecting Caco-2 cells with strain BS176, a non-invasive, plasmid-less
derivative of M90T, or by exposing cells to TNF-
.
These experiments demonstrate that the transcriptome of
Shigella-invaded IEC reflects the invasive phenotype and is
significantly different from that induced by TNF-
in that it is almost
exclusively devoted to the recruitment, activation, and adherence of PMN. This
observation opens the way to studying the extent of transcriptional regulation
achieved by the Nod1 cascade, upon stimulation by intracellular
Shigella, and suggests that virulence proteins of Shigella,
particularly those that are secreted through the type III secretory apparatus,
may "remodel" this basic transcriptome.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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Bacterial Strains and InfectionTwo bacterial strains were used in this study: the wild-type Shigella flexneri 5a (M90T) that possesses the virulence plasmid and its plasmid-cured mutant BS176, which is non-invasive (23). One isolated colony on Tris-buffered saline agar containing 0.01% Congo red (25) was seeded in 7 ml of Tris-buffered saline broth for overnight culture. Before cell infection, bacteria were diluted in fresh broth for 2 h to be harvested in exponential phase of growth. Caco-2 cells were grown in 10-cm-diameter Petri dishes. To obtain an efficient cell invasion, non-confluent Caco-2 cell cultures were infected with bacteria with a multiplicity of infection of 100 bacteria/cell. After a 15-min-centrifugation at 2,000 rpm, cells and bacteria were incubated for 45 min and then washed three times in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium and reincubated for 75 or 195 min with 50 µg/ml gentamicin to kill extracellular bacteria. As confirmed by Giemsa staining, more than 70% of the cells were regularly infected.
Preparation of mRNA and Hybridization on Affymetrix ChipsFollowing washing in cold phosphate-buffered saline, cells were lysed, and the total RNA was extracted by RNeasy Mini kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). Integrity and purity of RNA were checked by spectrophotometry and capillary electrophoresis, using the Bioanalyzer 2100 and RNA 6000 LabChip kit from Agilent Technologies (Palo Alto, CA). cDNA were synthesized using Superscript Choice system (Invitrogen). Biotin-labeled-cRNA was then synthesized with the Enzo BioArray High Yield RNA transcript labeling kit (Enzo Biochem, New York, NY). After purification with Rneasy columns (Qiagen), 12.5 µg of fragmented cRNA were hybridized to an HG-U95Av2 array (Affymetrix), and the chips were automatically washed and stained with streptavidine-phy-coerythrin using a fluidics station. Finally, the arrays were scanned at 570 nm with a resolution of 3 µm/pixel, using a GeneArray scanner from Agilent Technologies.
Analysis of ResultsIn the Affymetrix technology (26), 25-mer oligonucleotides are directly synthesized on the glass slides. For each gene sequence, 1620 different oligonucleotides are present, and for each oligonucleotide, the perfect match is the exact homology of the gene selected, whereas for the mismatch, the nucleotide in position 13 is wrong. For the analysis, two versions of MicroArray Suite from Affymetrix were used, MAS4.0 (27) and MAS5.0 (28). Expression algorithms compute two main metrics for each transcript, the absolute or detection call (present, marginal, or absent) determining whether the transcript is reliably detected by the probe array and the average difference or signal reflecting the relative level of expression of the transcript. In the first experiments, the fluorescence obtained was analyzed using MAS4.0 software, based on empirical algorithms. A normalization factor (the scaling factor) was applied, and then after background substraction and statistical comparison of the hybridations between perfect matches and mismatches, the presence or absence of the gene was provided, thus constituting the absolute call (present, marginal, or absent). Then the average difference, directly related to the expression of the transcripts, was determined. The comparative analysis, also performed by MAS, allowed the comparison between two samples, one used as baseline (in our case, the non-infected) and the experiment (infected with invasive or non-invasive bacteria). This analysis indicated whether there was a change in gene expression between the two samples. This was provided as the change call (increase, marginal increase, decrease, marginal decrease, or no change) and also by the -fold change (between the signal of the experimental sample and of the baseline sample). With MAS 5.0, the empirical algorithms are replaced by statistical algorithms; the major difference between the two versions of the software is that in the comparative analysis, the -fold change is shown as a logarithmic scale.
The clustering analysis with Data Mining Tool (DMT version 3.0) of the microarray experiment allowed the identification of gene expression patterns. One of the methods used was the correlation coefficient clustering algorithm, which finds probe set patterns that have similar shapes. Three steps are successively performed for finding clusters of similar probe set patterns: (i) filtering to remove patterns mostly related to noise, (ii) seeding to define the expression patterns of the clusters using a nearest neighbor approach, and (iii) clustering to group patterns that are close to the cluster shape define in the previous step.
Detection of Protein ExpressionCaco-2 cells were infected with Shigella, as described above, in 12-well culture plates. At different time points (60, 120, 240, and 360 min), culture media were centrifuged (1,500 rpm, 10 min), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay tests for immunodetection of IL-8 and CXCL1 chemokines were performed, following the supplier's recommendations (Quantikine®, R&D Systems, Inc., Minneapolis, MN). Chemokine concentrations were determined from the standard curve provided in the detection kit. The experiments were performed twice in duplicate.
| RESULTS |
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Cluster 1, Genes Up-regulated during a 2-h Infection with either M90T or BS176 We identified a total of 240 genes whose transcription was up-regulated, regardless of the expression of the invasive phenotype by Shigella. Considering that a plasmid-less Shigella is devoid of any specific pathogenic factor (i.e. no adherence-invasive capacity, no protein secretion) and that the species has lost expression of flagella, a major stimulus eliciting a proinflammatory program in IEC via TLR5 recognition (11), the cell response might reflect (i) the recognition of bacteria-associated molecular patterns (i.e. lipopolysaccharide, peptidoglycan, lipoproteins) as well as (ii) the stress response to metabolic products released by infecting bacteria and to the conditions of competition for essential nutrients. Table I shows genes whose ratio of transcriptional up-regulation by Shigella infection, normalized to the background expression in non-infected cells, was over 1.5 with at least one of the two infecting organisms and with a significant absolute call. This ratio was computed from results obtained in four independent samples of cells infected by M90T or BS176 and five independent samples of non-infected cells. Data presentation in Fig. 1 has been organized according to sets of genes reflecting similar functions. The complete list of the cluster, like the other tables shown in this study, may be found as supplemental data. The complete results are available upon request.
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The pattern of gene expression was dominated by up-regulation of genes
involved in cell detoxification processes, such as several isoforms of
cytochrome P-450 (CYP) with ratios of up-regulation between 3- and 8-fold and
aldehyde-dehydrogenase (
5-fold)
(29). In addition, genes
regulating cell survival and proliferation were also induced, such as those
encoding the caspase-like apoptosis-regulating protein (Clarp, Ref.
30), amphiregulin
(31,
32) and TGF-
(33), two EGF-related growth
factors produced by epithelial cells that function as autocrine/paracrine
factors activating cell proliferation. Both molecules are ligands for the EGF
receptor (31). Up-regulation
of the VIP receptor gene
(34) may follow this logic of
a protective program since VIP acts as a neuroendocrine mediator that not only
stimulates water and electrolyte secretion in the gut but also promotes growth
and proliferation of normal and malignant cells. Increased transcription of
DNA repair genes, such as exonuclease Rec1
(35) and photolyase
(36), probably also reflects
this protective program.
Concerning inflammation, it is interesting to note that within the 2-h
period of infection, no evidence for induction of a proinflammatory program
was observed, with the exception of the gene encoding IFN-
treatment-inducible protein
(37). On the other hand,
transcriptional induction of the peroxisome proliferator-activated
receptor-
is a very stimulating observation since this nuclear receptor
has been shown to elicit a potent anti-inflammatory signal
(38).
In summary, BS176 induces a transcriptome reflecting a program of cell protection and survival and possibly of antiinflammation. This basic program was also induced by M90T, although as shown below, a proinflammatory program reflecting expression of the invasive phenotype quickly prevailed.
Cluster 2, Genes Up-regulated during a 2-h Infection with M90TFollowing a 2-h infection, we identified a total of 72 genes whose increased transcription was specifically related to expression of the invasive phenotype by Shigella. Table II reports genes whose transcriptional induction over non-infected cells showed a ratio superior to 1.5.
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This transcriptome was clearly dominated by the up-regulation of genes encoding chemokines, cytokines, and adherence molecules, which, altogether, may achieve bone marrow stimulation of granulopoiesis (GM-CSF: x 33.24 (39)), attraction and stimulation of PMN (IL-8: x 304.79, CXCL1: x 133.74; CXCL2: x 13.17; CXCL3: x 3.12 (40)), and attachment of PMN to IEC (ICAM-1: x 20 (41)). In addition to PMN attraction, NK cells and lymphocyte attraction is expected to be strongly influenced by this profile, particularly because IL-8 is also a potent chemoattractant for these cells (42). Finally, regarding chemoattraction, the 20x up-regulation of the CCL20 gene indicates a potential for strong recruitment of dendritic cells (43, 44).
This strong proinflammatory profile was reinforced by the observation that
transcription of TNF-
and its regulatory protein A20
(45) were up-regulated by
3.06x and 4.23x, respectively, and that the gene encoding
cyclooxygenase-2 was induced by 2.2x
(46). In addition, the
antiapoptosis profile observed through the common up-regulation of Clarp,
amphiregulin, and TGF-
, following infection by both M90T and BS176, was
confirmed by the observation of 6.1x up-regulation of transcription of
the gene encoding the antiapoptosis protein IAP1
(47). Engagement of a cell
protection and proliferation program was confirmed by the additional induction
of the radiation-inducible early gene (IEX-1
(48)) and the CYR61
gene (49). Increased
transcription of the gene encoding the MAD-3/I
B-l activity
(50) may reflect initiation of
a retrocontrol loop aimed at moderating the proinflammatory cascade,
particularly the sustained activation of NF-
B. The induction of genes
encoding oncogenes, such as c-jun and jun-B, will be
considered in the next paragraph exploring the dynamics of M90T-induced
transcriptional patterns according to duration of cell invasion.
In summary, M90T induces a transcriptome reflecting a proinflammatory program that is strongly biased toward involvement of PMN, NK, and dendritic cells at the early stage of the innate response to Shigella invasion. Transcriptional activation is dominated by massive induction of IL-8 transcription, thus emphasizing that this chemokine is a key marker of the epithelial response to bacterial invasion.
Time Course of Transcriptional Activation, Early and Late GenesThe kinetics of transcriptional activation of eukaryotic genes according to the duration of cell invasion by M90T were established following 45, 120, and 240 min of invasion. Because both the experimental results reported in the previous paragraphs and a statistically analysis of variance analysis of variance of the replicate had confirmed high reproducibility of the technique, hybridizations were performed according to a protocol in which mRNA samples from four different experiments were pooled in a single sample. This process allows us to minimize the biological variation between samples.
Fig. 2 summarizes the kinetics of transcriptional induction of some of the major genes whose transcription was induced following invasion by M90T. It clearly demonstrates the existence of a set of early genes, exemplified by c-fos, that was strongly induced as early as 45 min after invasion. Then, despite the persistence of intracellular bacteria, its transcription returned to background level. Among these early genes, another set was observed whose up-regulation started after 45 min of invasion and remained high or slowly decreased according to duration of invasion. The latter comprised the genes encoding cytochromes P-450 and the gene encoding IEX-1.
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Following these early transcriptional programs, up-regulation of the genes encoding proinflammatory molecules, such as IL-8, CXCL-1, -2, -3, ICAM-1, and the chemokine CCL-20, appeared only around the second hour of cell invasion, thus their classification as late genes. To demonstrate that increase in gene transcription was actually followed by translation and release of the relevant proteins in the cell culture medium, we selected IL-8 and CXCL-1 as chemokines whose gene transcription was most strongly induced, according to Affymetrix microarrays. Analysis was performed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Quantikine, R&D Systems). Whereas non-invasive BS176 did not induce significant release of these two chemokines at any time point, upon infection of Caco-2 cells, invasive M90T did induce their expression and release. Significant amounts could be detected following 240 min of infection (IL-8 = 60 ± 0 pg/ml; CXCL-1 = 16 ± 1 pg/ml). These values then increased according to time, as seen following 360 min of infection (IL-8 = 84 ± 4 pg/ml; CXCL-1 = 27.5 ± 0.5 pg/ml).
Genes Up-regulated in Response to a 2-h Stimulation of Caco-2 Cells by
TNF-
To explore whether IEC uniformly respond to
proinflammatory stimulus, whether an invasive microorganism, such as
Shigella, or a proinflammatory cytokine, such as TNF-
, the
transcriptome of Caco-2 cells exposed to 10 ng/ml TNF-
for 2 h was
analyzed, and the ratio of transcriptional up-regulation over untreated cells
was recorded. Table III shows
only genes whose transcriptional ratio was over 1.5. In addition,
Fig. 3 illustrates the
transcriptional clusters that are common to responses to BS176, M90T, and
TNF-
, those that are common to responses to two of them (i.e.
M90T and BS176, or M90T and TNF-
), and those that are specific to a
single one.
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Over a ratio threshold of 1.5, no gene was significantly induced by all
three experimental conditions. A common gene expression pattern was observed
between cells infected with M90T and cells treated by TNF-
. This
pattern clearly encompassed up-regulated transcription of the genes encoding
the proinflammatory chemokines IL-8, CXCL-2 and -3, as well as CCL-20, and the
adherence molecule ICAM-1. The level of transcriptional activation of IL-8
induced by TNF-
, however, was far from matching the level induced by
M90T invasion. Also induced in both conditions were genes encoding IAP1,
MAD-3, A20, and IEX-1, v-Maf
(51), and Jun-B. The induction
of several genes remained specific to one condition, such as CXCL1,
GM-CSF, c-jun, CYR61
(49), and AML1
(52) for M90T, and,
strikingly, a series of genes encoding NF-
B-related molecules, such as
I
B
, P-50, I-Rel, NF-
B subunit, and nuclear factor
B
DNA binding subunit, as well as the genes encoding receptor protein
41BB.
These data indicated that Caco-2 cells were able to differentially regulate transcriptional activation in the presence of different proinflammatory stimuli. This opens the way to further differential analysis of gene transcription with the aim of identifying Shigella-expressed molecules that modulate host cell transcriptional patterns to provide a transcriptome that differs from those induced by other stimuli.
| DISCUSSION |
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Analysis of the global patterns of transcriptional activation in the human
IEC line Caco-2, following infection by Shigella, provides three
essential pieces of information regarding cell responses to the invasive
process. (i) It confirms, and further refines, the concept according to which,
upon invasion by Shigella, IEC initiate a proinflammatory program.
(ii) It shows for the first time that infected IEC engage a protective program
that encompasses up-regulation of key genes involved in detoxification
processes, DNA protection and repair, and antiapoptosis. (iii) It also
demonstrates that expression of the invasive phenotype by Shigella
imposes a clear bias upon the cell transcriptome with a signature pattern
different from the transcriptome, induced by TNF-
, although a core of
proinflammatory genes is common.
The striking characteristic of the proinflammatory program initiated
following Shigella invasion is that it addresses the major steps
required for PMN to be produced, recruited, activated, and bound to IEC. This
program encompasses transcription of several genes belonging to the category
of late genes, when compared with the expression of early genes, such as
oncogenes, transcription, and detoxification factors. It should be noted,
however, that the response of IEC to Shigella, concerning activation
of the proinflammatory genes, particularly those responding to NF-
B
activation, requires full entry and probably lysis of the phagocytic vacuole,
events that, altogether, take about 45 min
(14). The strong
transcriptional induction of GM-CSF is likely to stimulate
granulopoiesis (39,
60) and may actually account
for a classical complication of Shigella infection: the
pseudo-leukemoid syndrome (61)
that is characterized by major hyperleukocytosis with a strong percentage of
young cell forms, metamyelocytes, promyelocytes, and even myeloblasts.
Although this syndrome is not in itself life-threatening, it is a marker of
disease severity, preceding complications, such as the hemolytic uremic
syndrome. In addition to its inductive function on myeloid progenitors, GM-CSF
also expresses an activating effect upon the cytotoxic and antigen-presenting
capacities of monocytes-macrophages and strongly stimulates PMN, particularly
their ability to adhere, phagocytose, and respond to pathogen-associated
molecular patterns (62).
Hyperproduction of GM-CSF by IEC in the course of shigellosis may therefore
play a major role in aggravating the inflammatory reaction with both local and
systemic consequences.
The most striking feature of gene activation, however, was the massive
induction of IL-8 transcription, followed by CXCL-1,
-2, and -3, which was reflected in the actual expression and
release of the first two that we checked, due to their dramatic
transcriptional increase. These
-chemokines are largely devoted to the
recruitment and activation of granulocytes, particularly PMN
(40). Regarding PMN, like
formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine, C5a, or platelet-activating factor, IL-8
is a potent activator of key microbicidal functions. It activates
5-lipoxygenase and the production of LTB4; it also acts as a priming agent
amplifying the stimulating effect of formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine, thus
increasing the release of leukotrienes and superoxide anions. It is also a
potent degranulating agent for both specific and azurophilic granules, thus
causing release of antibacterial effectors. Among these effectors, elastase
appears active on Shigella by achieving proteolytic degradation of
its major virulence effectors (Ipa proteins and IcsA), thus disarming its
capacity to escape into the cytoplasm and resist bactericidal mechanisms
(6). However, IL-8 is also a
potent chemoattractant for T lymphocytes and NK cells. We have recently shown
that both CD4 T-cells and NK cells are the major sources of
IFN-
,3 an
essential cytokine required to achieve control of Shigella infection
at the innate stage of the immune response
(64). These elements indicate
that, as sentinel and signaling cells, IECs are sending soluble signals that
seem well adapted to the eradication of Shigella, a strategy
requiring the counteraction of its particular pathogenic properties,
particularly the type III-mediated capacity to kill phagocytes
(65,
66), and to hide inside IEC.
It is likely that IL-8, owing to its strong properties of chemoattraction and
activation of PMN, has been selected to play a key role in the defense against
Shigella. This is, however, a "double-edged sword" since
the massive infiltrate of PMN is deleterious to epithelial tissues, an effect
probably enhanced by overexpression of ICAM-1 by epithelial cells, leading to
increased binding of PMN (67).
The absence of expression of IL-8 in mice
(68) may largely account for
their inability to develop any symptom of shigellosis when infected
intragastrically or intrarectally, unlike rabbits in which neutralization of
IL-8 has been shown to strongly attenuate epithelial destruction in the
presence of Shigella infection
(20).
Potential recruitment of NK cells, in addition to providing IFN-
,
may also participate in epithelial destruction. In addition, activation of
Cox-2 is expected to enhance the proinflammatory capacity of these factors.
Conversely, up-regulation of the
MAD-3/I
B
gene, although possibly
reflecting initiation of an anti-inflammatory loop, may also correspond to a
program of vasoprotection maintaining the integrity of mucosal tissues, due to
its alternative activity as growth factor for endothelial cells
(50); note that the indigenous
flora plays a significant role in the development of the intestinal capillary
system (70). In addition to a
strong bias toward recruitment of PMN, the Caco-2 transcriptome also reflected
a capacity to recruit dendritic cells, as deduced from the strong induction of
the gene encoding CCL-20 (43).
A similar observation was made in the case of Salmonella typhimurium
infecting the murine intestinal epithelium
(44). Although the encounter
between dendritic cells and Shigella leads to quick apoptosis of
these cells (71), this may
still affect the profile of cytokines that will modulate the adaptive
response. In addition, apoptotic blebs of infected dendritic cells may act as
powerfully immunogenic elements in the adaptive immune response against
Shigella, as already demonstrated in other systems
(72).
A second major bias of the transcriptional pattern of the Caco-2 cell response to Shigella was toward induction of protective and survival mechanisms. This was observed not only with the wild-type isolate M90T but also with its non-invasive derivative BS176. Up-regulation of genes involved in cell detoxification processes, such as several isoforms of CYP and aldehyde dehydrogenase, was unexpected since BS176 is considered a harmful commensal, whereas it seemed instead perceived as a xenobiotic inducing a program of cell protection. CYP is a superfamily of heme-containing enzymes that play key roles in the metabolism and detoxification of an array of drugs, chemicals, and endogenous substances (73). Several pieces of evidence indicate that infection down-regulates the expression of CYP (74). This is observed in infected animals, most likely in response to inflammatory mediators (75), with the exception of liver infection by Helicobacter hepaticus, which causes a time-related increase in expression of CYP1A2 and 2A5 (76). Moreover, administration of lipopolysaccharide, either systemically to animals and humans, or to cell cultures, almost universally decreases CYP expression (77). These results are a strong incentive to identify xenobiotic substances produced by Shigella, their mechanisms of sensing by IEC, and the signaling cascades and downstream transcriptional complex involved. Up-regulation of the transcription of the gene encoding the dioxin-inducible isoform of CYP by 2.9x was also observed in the course of an infection of epithelial cells with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (78).
In a similar logic of cell protection against harmful molecules produced by
both M90T and BS176, genes encoding apoptosis-regulating proteins, such as the
caspase-like apoptosis-regulating protein CLARP
(30) and two growth factors,
ligands for EGF receptor, amphiregulin
(31) and TGF-
(33), were significantly
induced. Amphiregulin is transcriptionally induced by oxidative stress, a
possible link with Shigella infection
(79). It is an
autocrine/paracrine epithelial growth factor that was shown to be the most
abundant EGF receptor ligand produced by Caco-2 cells
(32). Amphiregulin secretion
appears essentially basolateral in polarized cells and induces strong cell
proliferation (32) but no
significant differentiating effect
(80). Amphiregulin also
strongly induces secretion of the matrix metalloproteinases MMP-9 and MMP-2 in
cancer cells (81) and is a
potent antiapoptotic factor in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines
(63). TGF-
is also an
autocrine/paracrine growth factor acting primarily in the process of growth
initiation by moving cells from the non-cycling state back into the cell cycle
(69). Increased transcription
of amphiregulin and TGF-
may reflect the neoplastic origin of Caco-2
cells. Similar experiments will be conducted on human epithelial strips
obtained from biopsy specimens to confirm these findings. However, these
results suggest that commensals and pathogens may influence the survival,
proliferation, and attachment of cancer cells, thus enhancing the metastatic
capacity of colonic tumors.
Induction of the VIP receptor (34) transcription may follow the same logic of a protective program that would also include increased transcription of DNA repair genes, such as the DNA repair exonuclease Rec1 (35) and the photolyase (36). This program may play a significant role in protecting IEC against apoptotic death, unlike macrophages that rapidly undergo apoptosis upon invasion by Shigella (61).
A last major point to be discussed is differential transcriptional
regulation. Beyond the current uncertainties regarding what, in both invasive
and non-invasive Shigella, up-regulates transcription of genes aimed
at establishing a protective and survival program in infected Caco-2 cells, it
is striking that the proinflammatory programs elicited either by invasive
strain M90T or by TNF-
shared a similar core of common genes, but also
differed for others. This emphasizes that, whereas both conditions do activate
the NF-
B signaling pathway
(14,
15,
17), which is likely to
account largely for transcription of the genes encoding proinflammatory
cytokines and chemokines, particularly IL-8, other transcriptional system are
differentially activated, thus accounting for the differences observed. Our
current research is aimed at understanding these differences. Activation of
the Nod1 system by intracellular Shigella has been shown to activate
both the NF-
B and Jun kinase pathways
(15), but the extent of
transcription systems that these pathways actually activate is currently
unknown. In addition, it is likely that some of the Shigella proteins
encoded by the virulence plasmid and injected into IEC via the type III
secretion are further regulating the background transcriptome induced by Nod1,
thus providing Caco-2 cells with a transcriptional signature of
Shigella that can be differentiated from the signature of
TNF-
.
| FOOTNOTES |
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The on-line version of this article (available at
http://www.jbc.org)
contains supplementary data showing complete list of genes whose transcription
was up-regulated. ![]()
¶ To whom correspondence shoule be addressed. Tel.: 33-1-40-61-30-95; Fax: 33-1-45-68-89-53; E-mail: psanson{at}pasteur.fr.
1 The abbreviations used are: PMN, polymorphonuclear leukocytes; IEC,
intestinal epithelial cells; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; EGF, epidermal growth
factor; TGF, transforming growth factor; TLR, Toll-like receptors; CYP,
cytochromes P-450; VIP, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide; IFN, interferon;
GM-CSF, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor; CLARP, caspase-like
apoptosis-regulating protein. ![]()
2 Girardin, S. E., Boneca, I. G., Carneiro, L. A., Antignac, A., Jehanno, M.,
Viala, J., Tedin, K., Taha, M. K., Labigne, A., Zahringer, U., Coyle, A. J.,
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Science 300, 15841587. ![]()
3 K. LeBarillec et al., manuscript in preparation. ![]()
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