衣原体抗宿主细胞凋亡调控机制研究进展

衣原体为完成发育周期以及逃避宿主免疫,进化形成一整套机制以实现持续性感染并对宿主细胞进行调控,抑制宿主细胞凋亡。细胞感染衣原体后,早期可以抑制Caspase酶系,抑制相关信号转导途径,且胞内线粒体发生一系列结构和功能的变化,抑制凋亡因子释放,一系列因子协同作用,抑制宿主细胞凋亡。本文从凋亡途径、凋亡蛋白、凋亡信号通路三个主要方面作了衣原体抑制宿主细胞凋亡机制概述,对进一步了解衣原体发育及其致病机制提供了新的研究思路。     

沙眼衣原体抑制宿主细胞凋亡机制的研究进展

沙眼衣原体是一类具有独特发育周期的革兰阴性病原体,能够引起人类多种疾病。沙眼衣原体感染的宿主细胞能够抵抗多种凋亡刺激,并且通过抑制宿主细胞凋亡从而完成自身的复制与发育。其抗凋亡机制可能与其参与调节宿主细胞MAPK信号途径、抑制线粒体细胞色素c的释放、上调凋亡抑制蛋白IAPs和降解促凋亡蛋白等多种机制有关。最新研究发现沙眼衣原体可以通过HDM2/MDM2与p53相互作用,促进p53蛋白水解,抑制细胞凋亡,从而导致持续性感染。     

沙眼衣原体通过激活MAPK/ERK信号通路抑制宿主细胞凋亡

目的:研究沙眼衣原体抑制宿主细胞凋亡活性与MAPK/ERK信号通路的关系。方法:利用化学抑制剂U0126阻断MAPK/ERK信号通路,然后分别采用流式细胞术、Caspase-3活性检测试剂盒和Western Blot实验检测沙眼衣原体感染细胞在凋亡诱导剂Etoposide作用下细胞凋亡率和Caspase-3活性变化,以及PARP是否发生裂解。结果:当MAPK/ERK信号通路被阻断时,在Etoposide的作用下,沙眼衣原体感染细胞凋亡率明显上升,同时Caspase-3被活化和PARP发生裂解。结论:沙眼衣原体抑制宿主细胞凋亡活性与MAPK/ERK信号通路激活有关。     

衣原体免疫逃逸机制的研究进展

衣原体是一类专性细胞内寄生的原核细胞型微生物,感染人体后可引起多种慢性疾病。衣原体在宿主细胞中复制和持续性存在是其致病的主要原因。近年的研究表明,衣原体通过改变MHC抗原表达、干扰宿主细胞凋亡信号通路等机制以逃逸宿主的免疫清除。     

弓形虫与宿主细胞相互作用研究进展

刚地弓形虫(Toxoplasma gondii)在细胞内严格寄生,因此它能引起哺乳类宿主(包括人类)细胞的感染。凋亡在宿主细胞与弓形虫的相互作用中发挥着重要的作用。在未受感染的宿主细胞中,凋亡被间接机制所限制,因而宿主细胞能够对弓形虫发生炎症反应。与之相反,在被感染的宿主细胞中,由于凋亡信号级联反应直接受到了干扰,从而抑制了宿主细胞凋亡,这就有利于弓形虫在宿主细胞内的生存和发育。值得注意的是,弓形虫调节和抑制凋亡的两种能力,需要一个精密的调节系统来调控弓形虫和宿主细胞的相互作用,以维持弓形虫稳定的持续感染。重点从弓形虫有关的宿主细胞的凋亡方面进行了介绍。     

小RNA病毒蛋白与细胞凋亡的关系

很多小RNA病毒科病毒感染宿主细胞后可引发宿主细胞凋亡,这种现象被认为是宿主细胞对抗小RNA病毒侵染的防御机制。凋亡机制可由某些病毒蛋白对细胞产生信号干扰来实现多种凋亡通路。虽然这些凋亡通路的上游事件是不同的,但最后的效应却很一致。此外,一些病毒蛋白具有抑制细胞凋亡的功能,它们能够令感染病毒后的细胞不死亡,形成病毒与宿主细胞共存的持续性感染状态。     

结核分枝杆菌对宿主巨噬细胞死亡方式的调控

结核分枝杆菌（Mycobacterium tuberculosis,Mtb）感染后能抑制宿主巨噬细胞（M西）的免疫反应,并在其中生存、复制。研究表明Mtb减毒株感染主要诱导宿主Mφ凋亡,凋亡能抑制胞内Mtb的活力;而Mtb毒力株感染能抑制凋亡的完成,诱导Mφ坏死,最终导致Mtb扩散、感染临近细胞。通过对Mtb感染诱导宿主Mφ不同死亡方式的讨论,进一步认识Mtb的致病机制。     

杆状病毒凋亡抑制基因的研究进展

杆状病毒(bacu lovirus)感染昆虫细胞能引起细胞凋亡,但在长期进化过程中,杆状病毒可通过自身编码凋亡抑制基因的表达,抑制细胞凋亡以利于自己的增殖。目前在杆状病毒基因组中已发现两种不同类型的细胞凋亡抑制基因p35/p49和iap,这两类凋亡抑制基因分别作用于细胞凋亡途径的不同位点,以抑制细胞的凋亡。近年来人们对这两种基因的蛋白结构及作用机制等方面进行了大量的研究,这些为今后研究昆虫细胞凋亡,扩大杆状病毒宿主范围等方面奠定了基础。     

衣原体逃逸宿主免疫反应机制研究进展

衣原体感染常表现为持续性感染,能够引起人和动物的多种慢性疾病。衣原体成功逃逸宿主免疫反应是其维持持续感染的前提,目前已知衣原体可通过逃避宿主细胞溶酶体融合、调控宿主细胞免疫反应、干扰宿主细胞凋亡与自噬活动以及诱导宿主细胞蛋白质组改变等方式逃逸宿主免疫反应。现就衣原体逃逸宿主免疫反应的相关研究作一综述。     

猪瘟病毒感染猪白细胞凋亡基因表达谱变化的研究

为了了解CSFV感染引起猪细胞凋亡的分子机制,利用基因芯片分析了猪感染CSFV前后基因组转录水平的变化。分离攻毒前和攻毒后猪外周血白细胞(Peripheral blood leucocyte,PBL),提取总RNA,经反转录和体外转录得到cRNA,与Affymetrix猪全基因组cDNA芯片进行杂交分析,筛选差异表达的凋亡基因。结果显示,感染猪的PBLs中共筛选到24个涉及细胞凋亡有关基因发生2倍以上变化,并对差异表达的12个宿主细胞凋亡相关基因,用荧光定量RT-PCR进行了验证。功能分析显示,这些凋亡基因的表达变化与CSFV诱导宿主细胞凋亡的机制有关。本文首次用猪全基因组芯片研究了CSFV感染诱导宿主基因的表达变化,建立了CSFV感染猪细胞凋亡相关基因的表达谱,初步阐释了CSFV感染诱导宿主细胞凋亡的分子机制。     

Apoptosis resistance in Chlamydia-infected cells: a fate worse than death?

Chlamydia has long been studied as an intracellular pathogen causing widespread diseases. In the last three decades, the field of apoptosis has rapidly emerged, and as a consequence, research on infectious diseases in general and on Chlamydia –host interaction in particular shifted to apoptosis modulation. Ten years ago, the first paper describing the drastic inhibition of apoptosis in Chlamydia -infected cells was published. In a reversal of roles, here was a pathogen that was strongly protecting cells in an organism against destruction by the organism's immune system. Since then, numerous studies have described apoptosis inhibition by Chlamydia and the mechanisms involved, but still there is a lack of general consensus on the subject. With a section of studies even reporting the induction of cell death by Chlamydia and not its inhibition, the field became even more diverse and complicated. In this review, an attempt is made to discuss the recent findings on apoptosis modulation by chlamydial species.     

Chlamydia and programmed cell death

Discordant views regarding host cell death induction by Chlamydia are likely owing to the different methods used for evaluation of apoptosis. Apoptotic and non-apoptotic death owing to both caspase-dependent and -independent activation of the Bax protein occur late in the productive growth cycle. Evidence also suggests that Chlamydia inhibits apoptosis during productive growth as part of its intracellular survival strategy. This is in part owing to proteolytic degradation of the BH3-only family of pro-apoptotic proteins in the mitochondrial pathway. Chlamydia also inhibits apoptosis during persistent growth or in phagocytes, but induces apoptosis in T cells, which suggests that apoptosis has an immunomodulatory role in chlamydial infections. The contribution of apoptosis in disease pathogenesis remains a focus for future research.     

改构酸性成纤维细胞生长因子对小鼠胸腺细胞凋亡的影响

目的:探讨改构酸性成纤维细胞生长因子(MaFGF)对地塞米松(DEX)诱导小鼠胸腺细胞凋亡的保护作用。方法:利用地塞米松诱导小鼠胸腺细胞凋亡的模型,将实验分为空白对照组、DEX处理组、aFGF+DEX组和MaFGF+DEX组,采用DNA琼脂糖凝胶电泳和流式细胞仪两种分析方法,测定MaFGF对小鼠胸腺细胞凋亡的影响。结果:空白对照组凋亡率为168%,DEX处理后小鼠胸腺细胞出现明显的细胞凋亡,凋亡率为196%,aFGF和MaFGF处理后的细胞凋亡受到抑制,凋亡率分别下降到1595%和1293%,MaFGF效应强于aFGF,且以剂量依赖方式发挥作用。结论:MaFGF具有以剂量依赖方式的胸腺细胞保护作用。     

Mcl-1 is a key regulator of apoptosis resistance in Chlamydia trachomatis-infected cells

Chlamydia are obligate intracellular bacteria that cause variety of human diseases. Host cells infected with Chlamydia are protected against many different apoptotic stimuli. The induction of apoptosis resistance is thought to be an important immune escape mechanism allowing Chlamydia to replicate inside the host cell. Infection with C. trachomatis activates the Raf/MEK/ERK pathway and the PI3K/AKT pathway. Here we show that inhibition of these two pathways by chemical inhibitors sensitized C. trachomatis infected cells to granzyme B-mediated cell death. Infection leads to the Raf/MEK/ERK-mediated up-regulation and PI3K-dependent stabilization of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member Mcl-1. Consistently, interfering with Mcl-1 up-regulation sensitized infected cells for apoptosis induced via the TNF receptor, DNA damage, granzyme B and stress. Our data suggest that Mcl-1 up-regulation is primarily required to maintain apoptosis resistance in C. trachomatis-infected cells.     

Chlamydial infection induces host cytokinesis failure at abscission

Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular bacteria and the infectious agent responsible for the sexually transmitted disease Chlamydia. Infection with Chlamydia can lead to serious health sequelae such as pelvic inflammatory disease and reproductive tract scarring contributing to infertility and ectopic pregnancies. Additionally, chlamydial infections have been epidemiologically linked to cervical cancer in patients with a prior human papilomavirus (HPV) infection. Chlamydial infection of cultured cells causes multinucleation, a potential pathway for chromosomal instability. Two mechanisms that are known to initiate multinucleation are cell fusion and cytokinesis failure. This study demonstrates that multinucleation of the host cell by Chlamydia is entirely due to cytokinesis failure. Moreover, cytokinesis failure is due in part to the chlamydial effector CPAF acting as an anaphase promoting complex mimic causing cells to exit mitosis with unaligned and unattached chromosomes. These lagging and missegregated chromosomes inhibit cytokinesis by blocking abscission, the final stage of cytokinesis.     

Chlamydia (Chlamydophila) pneumoniae-induced cell death in human coronary artery endothelial cells is caspase-independent and accompanied by subcellular translocations of Bax and apoptosis-inducing factor

Atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease are causing high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Different risk factors have been demonstrated, but the exact mechanisms behind these diseases are still not fully understood. Recent studies have suggested Chlamydia pneumoniae to be involved in the pathogenesis, and increased apoptotic indexes in atherosclerotic plaques have been documented. In this study, we show that C. pneumoniae induces apoptosis and necrosis in populations of human coronary artery endothelial cells. Apoptosis was determined by TUNEL and flow cytometry after staining of cells with annexin V and propidium iodide, and defined as TUNEL-reactive or annexin V-positive, propidium iodide-negative cells. The apoptosis was induced within 2 h postinfection and increased with inoculation dose. The general caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk did not affect apoptotic frequencies. By immunochemistry and immunoblot, we demonstrated activation and subcellular translocation of the proapoptotic protein Bax, and translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor from the cytosol to the nucleus. These results indicate that C. pneumoniae-induced apoptosis in human coronary artery endothelial cells is caspase-independent and regulated by Bax and apoptosis-inducing factor.     

Recruitment of BAD by the Chlamydia trachomatis vacuole correlates with host-cell survival

Chlamydiae replicate intracellularly in a vacuole called an inclusion. Chlamydial-infected host cells are protected from mitochondrion-dependent apoptosis, partly due to degradation of BH3-only proteins. The host-cell adapter protein 14-3-3beta can interact with host-cell apoptotic signaling pathways in a phosphorylation-dependent manner. In Chlamydia trachomatis-infected cells, 14-3-3beta co-localizes to the inclusion via direct interaction with a C. trachomatis-encoded inclusion membrane protein. We therefore explored the possibility that the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) pathway may contribute to resistance of infected cells to apoptosis. We found that inhibition of PI3K renders C. trachomatis-infected cells sensitive to staurosporine-induced apoptosis, which is accompanied by mitochondrial cytochrome c release. 14-3-3beta does not associate with the Chlamydia pneumoniae inclusion, and inhibition of PI3K does not affect protection against apoptosis of C. pneumoniae-infected cells. In C. trachomatis-infected cells, the PI3K pathway activates AKT/protein kinase B, which leads to maintenance of the pro-apoptotic protein BAD in a phosphorylated state. Phosphorylated BAD is sequestered via 14-3-3beta to the inclusion, but it is released when PI3K is inhibited. Depletion of AKT through short-interfering RNA reverses the resistance to apoptosis of C. trachomatis-infected cells. BAD phosphorylation is not maintained and it is not recruited to the inclusion of Chlamydia muridarum, which protects poorly against apoptosis. Thus, sequestration of BAD away from mitochondria provides C. trachomatis with a mechanism to protect the host cell from apoptosis via the interaction of a C. trachomatis-encoded inclusion protein with a host-cell phosphoserine-binding protein.     

Structure of the Chlamydia protein CADD reveals a redox enzyme that modulates host cell apoptosis

The Chlamydia protein CADD (Chlamydia protein associating with death domains) has been implicated in the modulation of host cell apoptosis via binding to the death domains of tumor necrosis factor family receptors. Transfection of CADD into mammalian cells induces apoptosis. Here we present the CADD crystal structure, which reveals a dimer of seven-helix bundles. Each bundle contains a di-iron center adjacent to an internal cavity, forming an active site similar to that of methane mono-oxygenase hydrolase. We further show that CADD mutants lacking critical metal-coordinating residues are substantially less effective in inducing apoptosis but retain their ability to bind to death domains. We conclude that CADD is a novel redox protein toxin unique to Chlamydia species and propose that both its redox activity and death domain binding ability are required for its biological activity.     

Chlamydia-specific CD4 T cell clones control Chlamydia muridarum replication in epithelial cells by nitric oxide-dependent and -independent mechanisms

Chlamydia trachomatis serovars D-K are sexually transmitted intracellular bacterial pathogens that replicate in epithelial cells lining the human reproductive tract. It is clear from knockout mice and T cell depletion studies using Chlamydia muridarum that MHC class II and CD4 T cells are critical for clearing bacteria from the murine genital tract. It is not clear how CD4 T cells interact with infected epithelial cells to mediate bacterial clearance in vivo. Previous work using an epithelial tumor cell line showed that a Chlamydia-specific CD4 T cell clone was able to inhibit C. muridarum replication in vitro via induction of epithelial NO production. We have previously shown that Chlamydia-specific CD4 T cell clones can recognize and be activated by infected reproductive tract epithelial cells and block Chlamydia replication in them. We extend those observations by investigating the mechanism used by a panel of CD4 T cell clones to control Chlamydia replication in epithelial cells. We found that Chlamydia-specific CD4 T cell clones were cytolytic, but that cytolysis was not likely critical for controlling C. muridarum replication. For one, CD4 T cell clone-induced epithelial NO production was critical for controlling replication; however, the most potent CD4 T cell clones were dependent on T cell degranulation for replication control with only a minor additional contribution from NO production. We discuss our data as they relate to existing knockout mouse studies addressing mechanisms of T cell-mediated control of Chlamydia replication and their implications for intracellular epithelial pathogens in mouse models.     

Apoptosis in lung injury and remodeling.

The mode of cell death termed apoptosis, sometimes referred to as programmed cell death, is as critical a determinant of cell population size as is cell proliferation. Although best characterized in cells of the immune system, apoptosis is now known to be a key factor in the maintenance of normal cell turnover within structural cells in the parenchyma of virtually every organ. Recent interest in apoptosis in the lung has sparked a surge of investigations designed to determine the roles of apoptosis in lung development, injury, and remodeling. Of particular recent interest are the roles of apoptosis in disease pathogenesis and resolution, in which the concept of apoptosis as a "programmed" cell death, i.e., genetically determined, is often more accurately viewed as "inappropriate cell suicide" with regard to its extent and/or timing. Data accumulating over the past decade have made clear the complexity of the control of lung cell apoptosis; concepts of the regulation of apoptosis originally determined in classical cell culture models are often, but not always, applicable to structural cells. For this reason, each of the many cell types of the lung must be studied as a potentially new subject with its own idiosyncrasies yet to be discovered. In light of the large volume of literature now available, this article focuses on the roles of apoptosis in three pathophysiological contexts: acute respiratory distress syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and pulmonary fibrosis. Each section presents key data describing the evidence for apoptosis in the lung, its possible relevance to disease pathogenesis, and proposed mechanisms that might suggest potential avenues for therapeutic intervention.