This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow An erratum has been published
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 Greub, G.
Right arrow Articles by Raoult, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Greub, G.
Right arrow Articles by Raoult, D.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, October 2003, p. 5979-5985, Vol. 71, No. 10
0019-9567/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.10.5979-5985.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Parachlamydia acanthamoeba Enters and Multiplies within Human Macrophages and Induces Their Apoptosis

Gilbert Greub, Jean-Louis Mege, and Didier Raoult*

Unité des Rickettsies, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France

Received 12 May 2003/ Returned for modification 12 June 2003/ Accepted 2 July 2003

Parachlamydia acanthamoeba is an obligately intracellular bacterium that naturally infects free-living amoebae. It is a potential human pathogen and may survive in human macrophages. We studied P. acanthamoeba entry into, and multiplication within, human monocyte-derived macrophages. After 8 h of incubation, 80% of macrophages were infected with a mean of 3.8 P. acanthamoeba organisms per cell. Electron microscopy demonstrated that parachlamydiae were in an intracellular vacuole. After infection with living organisms, the number of parachlamydiae per macrophage increased 4 times from day 0 to day 4, whereas heat-inactivated parachlamydiae were eliminated during the same period. Quantitative PCR confirmed that P. acanthamoeba replicates within macrophages. Transcriptional activity of P. acanthamoeba was detected by reverse transcription-PCR targeting the gene encoding ADP-ATP translocase (tlc). P. acanthamoeba exerted a cytopathic effect on macrophages. When macrophages were infected with living bacteria, their number decreased significantly from day 0 to day 4 due to apoptosis, as shown by annexin-V binding and electron microscopy. This study shows that P. acanthamoeba enters and multiplies within human macrophages before inducing their apoptosis.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité des Rickettsies, Faculté de médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27, Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille, France. Phone: 33 491 32 43 75. Fax: 33 491 83 03 90. E-mail: didier.raoult{at}medecine.univ-mrs.fr.

Editor: W. A. Petri, Jr.

Infection and Immunity, October 2003, p. 5979-5985, Vol. 71, No. 10
0019-9567/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.10.5979-5985.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Matsuo, J., Hayashi, Y., Nakamura, S., Sato, M., Mizutani, Y., Asaka, M., Yamaguchi, H. (2008). Novel Parachlamydia acanthamoebae Quantification Method Based on Coculture with Amoebae. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 6397-6404 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Schmitz-Esser, S., Toenshoff, E. R., Haider, S., Heinz, E., Hoenninger, V. M., Wagner, M., Horn, M. (2008). Diversity of Bacterial Endosymbionts of Environmental Acanthamoeba Isolates. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 5822-5831 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Contini, C, Seraceni, S, Cultrera, R, Castellazzi, M, Granieri, E, Fainardi, E (2008). Molecular detection of Parachlamydia-like organisms in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler 14: 564-566 [Abstract]  
  • Casson, N., Posfay-Barbe, K. M., Gervaix, A., Greub, G. (2008). New Diagnostic Real-Time PCR for Specific Detection of Parachlamydia acanthamoebae DNA in Clinical Samples. J. Clin. Microbiol. 46: 1491-1493 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Adekambi, T., Ben Salah, S., Khlif, M., Raoult, D., Drancourt, M. (2006). Survival of Environmental Mycobacteria in Acanthamoeba polyphaga. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 5974-5981 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Corsaro, D., Greub, G. (2006). Pathogenic Potential of Novel Chlamydiae and Diagnostic Approaches to Infections Due to These Obligate Intracellular Bacteria. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 19: 283-297 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Desnues, B., Ihrig, M., Raoult, D., Mege, J.-L. (2006). Whipple's Disease: a Macrophage Disease. CVI 13: 170-178 [Full Text]  
  • Molmeret, M., Horn, M., Wagner, M., Santic, M., Abu Kwaik, Y. (2005). Amoebae as Training Grounds for Intracellular Bacterial Pathogens. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 20-28 [Full Text]  
  • Collingro, A., Poppert, S., Heinz, E., Schmitz-Esser, S., Essig, A., Schweikert, M., Wagner, M., Horn, M. (2005). Recovery of an environmental chlamydia strain from activated sludge by co-cultivation with Acanthamoeba sp.. Microbiology 151: 301-309 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kahane, S., Platzner, N., Dvoskin, B., Itzhaki, A., Friedman, M. G. (2004). Evidence for the Presence of Simkania negevensis in Drinking Water and in Reclaimed Wastewater in Israel. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70: 3346-3351 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Horn, M., Collingro, A., Schmitz-Esser, S., Beier, C. L., Purkhold, U., Fartmann, B., Brandt, P., Nyakatura, G. J., Droege, M., Frishman, D., Rattei, T., Mewes, H.-W., Wagner, M. (2004). Illuminating the Evolutionary History of Chlamydiae. Science 304: 728-730 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Greub, G., Raoult, D. (2004). Microorganisms Resistant to Free-Living Amoebae. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 17: 413-433 [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»