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Dissemination of Chlamydia from the reproductive tract to the gastro-intestinal tract occurs in stages and relies on Chlamydia transport by host cells.

ABSTRACT: Chlamydia trachomatis is a Gram-negative bacterial pathogen and a major cause of sexually transmitted disease and preventable blindness. In women, infections with C. trachomatis may lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility. In addition to infecting the female reproductive tract (FRT), Chlamydia spp. are routinely found in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract of animals and humans and can be a reservoir for reinfection of the FRT. Whether Chlamydia disseminates from the FRT to the GI tract via internal routes remains unknown. Using mouse-specific C. muridarum as a model pathogen we show that Chlamydia disseminates from the FRT to the GI tract in a stepwise manner, by first infecting the FRT-draining iliac lymph nodes (ILNs), then the spleen, then the GI tract. Tissue CD11c+ DCs mediate the first step: FRT to ILN Chlamydia transport, which relies on CCR7:CCL21/CCL19 signaling. The second step, Chlamydia transport from ILN to the spleen, also relies on cell transport. However, this step is dependent on cell migration mediated by sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) signaling. Finally, spleen to GI tract Chlamydia spread is the third critical step, and is significantly hindered in splenectomized mice. Inhibition of Chlamydia dissemination significantly reduces or precludes the induction of Chlamydia-specific serum IgG antibodies, presence of which is correlated with FRT pathology in women. This study reveals important insights in context of Chlamydia spp. pathogenesis and will inform the development of therapeutic targets and vaccines to combat this pathogen.

SUBMITTER: Howe SE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6907867 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Dissemination of Chlamydia from the reproductive tract to the gastro-intestinal tract occurs in stages and relies on Chlamydia transport by host cells.

Howe Savannah E SE Shillova Nita N Konjufca Vjollca V

PLoS pathogens 20191202 12

Chlamydia trachomatis is a Gram-negative bacterial pathogen and a major cause of sexually transmitted disease and preventable blindness. In women, infections with C. trachomatis may lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility. In addition to infecting the female reproductive tract (FRT), Chlamydia spp. are routinely found in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract of animals and humans and can be a reservoir for reinfection of the FRT. Whether Chla ...[more]

PMID: 31790512

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Project description:Recent work characterized the chicken reproductive tract (oviduct) microbiome composition and its similarity to the egg and chick microbiomes. However, the origin of the oviduct microbiome has not been addressed yet. Here, we characterized the microbiome composition along the oviduct (infundibulum, magnum, and shell gland) as well as in the gut (jejunum and cecum) of broiler breeders at 37 weeks of age of the Cobb industrial breed. We found that while the microbiome composition along the oviduct is similar, the three sites, jejunum, cecum, and oviduct hold distinct microbiomes. However, there was also a large overlap in the composition of the gut and oviduct microbiomes, with 55 and 53% of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) representing 96 and 90% of the total abundance in the jejunum and cecum, respectively, shared with the magnum. Furthermore, we identified a strong correlation between the relative abundance of ASVs in the gut and their probability to be found in the oviduct. These results suggest that material from the gut travels the full length of the oviduct. This is possibly the result of chicken physiology which includes the cloaca, a cavity to which both the intestinal and reproductive tracts open into. As the cloaca is common to birds, reptiles, amphibians, most fish, and monotremes, our finding may be relevant to many vertebrates. Importantly, these results indicate that mere presence in, and ascending of the oviduct are not virulence characteristics specific to pathogens, as commonly thought, but are the result of chicken physiology and characterize all gut bacteria. Furthermore, whereas a vertical transmission route from the hen to the chick has been suggested, our work starts laying a mechanistic foundation to this route, by describing the movement of gut bacteria to the oviduct, where they may be enclosed in the developing egg. Last, as our results show that gut material travels the full length of the oviduct, fertilization in poultry occurs in the presence of at least bacterial products if not live bacteria, and therefore food additives, probiotics, and diet possibly have a much more direct effect on reproduction and egg formation than previously considered.

Dataset Information

Dissemination of Chlamydia from the reproductive tract to the gastro-intestinal tract occurs in stages and relies on Chlamydia transport by host cells.

Publications

Dissemination of Chlamydia from the reproductive tract to the gastro-intestinal tract occurs in stages and relies on Chlamydia transport by host cells.

Similar Datasets

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