Modulation of the E-cadherin in human cells infected in vitro with Coxiella burnetii

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Omar Osman, Ikram | Mezouar, Soraya | Brahim-Belhaouari, Djamal | Mege, Jean-Louis | Devaux, Christian Albert

Edité par CCSD ; Public Library of Science -

International audience. High concentration of soluble E-cadherin (E-cad) was previously found in sera from Q fever patients. Here, BeWo cells which express a high concentration of E-cad were used as an in vitro model to investigate the expression and function of E-cad in response to infection by Coxiella burnetii , the etiological agent of Q fever. Infection of BeWo cells with C . burnetii leads to a decrease in the number of BeWo cells expressing E-cad at their membrane. A shedding of soluble E-cad was associated with the post-infection decrease of membrane-bound E-cad. The modulation of E-cad expression requires bacterial viability and was not found with heat-inactivated C . burnetii . Moreover, the intracytoplasmic cell concentration of β-catenin (β-cat), a ligand of E-cad, was reduced after bacterial infection, suggesting that the bacterium induces modulation of the E-cad/β-cat signaling pathway and CDH1 and CTNNB1 genes transcription. Finally, several genes operating the canonical Wnt-Frizzled/β-cat pathway were overexpressed in cells infected with C . burnetii . This was particularly evident with the highly virulent strain of C . burnetii , Guiana. Our data demonstrate that infection of BeWo cells by live C . burnetii modulates the E-cad/β-cat signaling pathway.

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