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Infection and Immunity, February 2008, p. 796-811, Vol. 76, No. 2
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00093-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Modulation of Intestinal Goblet Cell Function during Infection by an Attaching and Effacing Bacterial Pathogen{triangledown}

Kirk S. B. Bergstrom,1,{dagger} Julian A. Guttman,2,{dagger} Mohammad Rumi,1 Caixia Ma,1 Saied Bouzari,1 Mohammed A. Khan,1 Deanna L. Gibson,1 A. Wayne Vogl,3 and Bruce A. Vallance1*

Division of Gastroenterology, BC's Children's Hospital,1 Michael Smith Laboratories,2 Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, Division of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada3

Received 17 January 2007/ Returned for modification 8 March 2007/ Accepted 27 October 2007

The attaching and effacing (A/E) bacterial pathogens enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and enterohemorrhagic E. coli and the related mouse pathogen Citrobacter rodentium colonize their hosts' intestines by infecting the apical surfaces of enterocytes, subverting their function, and they ultimately cause diarrhea. Surprisingly, little is known about the interactions of these organisms with goblet cells, which are specialized epithelial cells that secrete the protective molecules Muc2 and trefoil factor 3 (Tff3) into the intestinal lumen. C. rodentium infection leads to dramatic goblet cell depletion within the infected colon, yet it is not clear whether C. rodentium infects goblet cells or if this pathology is pathogen or host mediated. As determined by immunostaining and PCR, both the number of goblet cells and the expression of genes encoding Muc2 and Tff3 were significantly reduced by day 10 postinfection. While electron microscopy and immunostaining revealed that C. rodentium directly infected a fraction of colonic goblet cells, C. rodentium localization did not correlate with goblet cell depletion. To assess the role of the host immune system in these changes, Rag1 knockout (KO) (T- and B-cell-deficient) mice were infected with C. rodentium. Rag1 KO mice did not exhibit the reduction in the number of goblet cells or in mediator (Muc2 and Tff3) expression observed in infected immunocompetent mice. However, reconstitution of Rag1 KO mice with T and B lymphocytes from C57BL/6 mice restored the goblet cell depletion phenotype during C. rodentium infection. In conclusion, these studies demonstrated that while colonic goblet cells can be subject to direct infection and potential subversion by A/E pathogens in vivo, it is the host immune system that primarily modulates the function of these cells during infection.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: ACB, Rm. K4-188, 4480 Oak Street, BC's Children's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6H 3V4. Phone: (604) 875-2345, ext. 5118. Fax: (604) 875-3244. E-mail: bvallance{at}cw.bc.ca

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 5 November 2007.

Editor: J. F. Urban, Jr.

{dagger} K.S.B.B. and J.A.G. contributed equally to this work.

Infection and Immunity, February 2008, p. 796-811, Vol. 76, No. 2
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00093-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Hoffmann, C., Hill, D. A., Minkah, N., Kirn, T., Troy, A., Artis, D., Bushman, F. (2009). Community-Wide Response of the Gut Microbiota to Enteropathogenic Citrobacter rodentium Infection Revealed by Deep Sequencing. Infect. Immun. 77: 4668-4678 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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