This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Jewett, A.
Right arrow Articles by Shi, W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Jewett, A.
Right arrow Articles by Shi, W.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, April 2000, p. 1893-1898, Vol. 68, No. 4
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Induction of Apoptotic Cell Death in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear and Polymorphonuclear Cells by an Oral Bacterium, Fusobacterium nucleatum

Anahid Jewett,1,* Wyatt R. Hume,1 Ho Le,2 Tri N. Huynh,1 Yiping W. Han,1,dagger Genhong Cheng,2 and Wenyuan Shi1

Department of Oral Biology and Oral Medicine, Dental Research Institute,1 and Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, UCLA School of Medicine and Dentistry,2 University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095

Received 6 July 1999/Returned for modification 8 November 1999/Accepted 3 January 2000

It is largely unknown why a variety of bacteria present in the oral cavity are capable of establishing themselves in the periodontal pockets of nonimmunocompromised individuals in the presence of competent immune effector cells. In this paper we present evidence for the immunosuppressive role of Fusobacterium nucleatum, a gram-negative oral bacterium which plays an important role in the generation of periodontal disease. Our studies indicate that the immunosuppressive role of F. nucleatum is largely due to the ability of this organism to induce apoptotic cell death in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and in polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs). F. nucleatum treatment induced apoptosis of PBMCs and PMNs as assessed by an increase in subdiploid DNA content determined by DNA fragmentation and terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labeling assays. The ability of F. nucleatum to induce apoptosis was abolished by either heat treatment or proteinase digestion but was retained after formaldehyde treatment, suggesting that a heat-labile surface protein component is responsible for bacterium-mediated cell apoptosis. The data also indicated that F. nucleatum-induced cell apoptosis requires activation of caspases and is protected by NF-kappa B. Possible mechanisms of F. nucleatum's role in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease are discussed.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Oral Biology and Oral Medicine, Dental Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095. Phone: (310) 206-3970. Fax: (310) 794-7109. E-mail: ajewett{at}ucla.edu.

dagger Present address: Department of Oral Biology, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14214.

Infection and Immunity, April 2000, p. 1893-1898, Vol. 68, No. 4
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Kurita-Ochiai, T., Seto, S., Suzuki, N., Yamamoto, M., Otsuka, K., Abe, K., Ochiai, K. (2008). Butyric Acid Induces Apoptosis in Inflamed Fibroblasts. JDR 87: 51-55 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Jewett, A., Cacalano, N. A., Head, C., Teruel, A. (2006). Coengagement of CD16 and CD94 receptors mediates secretion of chemokines and induces apoptotic death of naive natural killer cells.. Clin. Cancer Res. 12: 1994-2003 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Han, Y. W., Ikegami, A., Rajanna, C., Kawsar, H. I., Zhou, Y., Li, M., Sojar, H. T., Genco, R. J., Kuramitsu, H. K., Deng, C. X. (2005). Identification and Characterization of a Novel Adhesin Unique to Oral Fusobacteria. J. Bacteriol. 187: 5330-5340 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kaplan, C.W., Lux, R., Huynh, T., Jewett, A., Shi, W., Haake, S. K. (2005). Fusobacterium nucleatum Apoptosis-inducing Outer Membrane Protein. JDR 84: 700-704 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ribeiro-Sobrinho, A P, Rabelo, F L., Figueiredo, C B., Alvarez-Leite, J I, Nicoli, J R, Uzeda, M, Vieira, L Q (2005). Bacteria recovered from dental pulp induce apoptosis of lymph node cells. J Med Microbiol 54: 413-416 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Uitto, V.-J., Baillie, D., Wu, Q., Gendron, R., Grenier, D., Putnins, E. E., Kanervo, A., Firth, J. D. (2005). Fusobacterium nucleatum Increases Collagenase 3 Production and Migration of Epithelial Cells. Infect. Immun. 73: 1171-1179 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Teng, Y.-T. A. (2003). THE ROLE OF ACQUIRED IMMUNITY AND PERIODONTAL DISEASE PROGRESSION. CROBM 14: 237-252 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Narayanan, S., Stewart, G. C., Chengappa, M. M., Willard, L., Shuman, W., Wilkerson, M., Nagaraja, T. G. (2002). Fusobacterium necrophorum Leukotoxin Induces Activation and Apoptosis of Bovine Leukocytes. Infect. Immun. 70: 4609-4620 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Aga, E., Katschinski, D. M., van Zandbergen, G., Laufs, H., Hansen, B., Muller, K., Solbach, W., Laskay, T. (2002). Inhibition of the Spontaneous Apoptosis of Neutrophil Granulocytes by the Intracellular Parasite Leishmania major. J. Immunol. 169: 898-905 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»