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Infection and Immunity, May 2002, p. 2665-2669, Vol. 70, No. 5
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.5.2665-2669.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Göteborg University, S-4136 Göteborg, Sweden
Received 31 August 2001/ Returned for modification 4 November 2001/ Accepted 29 January 2002
| ABSTRACT |
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H. ducreyi causes chancroid (soft chancre, ulcus molle), a sexually transmitted disease that is characterized by mucocutaneous lesions on the external genitals, which if left untreated heal very slowly (40). HdCDT is produced by more than 80% of H. ducreyi strains (1) and is expressed in infected human hosts (39). The role of HdCDT in pathogenesis is unclear; HdCDT mutants defective in CdtC expression were noncytopathic in vitro but were as virulent as the wild type in both the rabbit model and human model of early H. ducreyi infection (35, 41).
Endothelial cells (ECs) play an important role in the early stages of inflammation, since they regulate the recruitment of inflammatory cells via the expression of surface receptors, the production of chemokines, and altered permeability. The endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecule 1 (E-selectin, CD62E) and the intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) are both early markers of EC activation (4, 34). ECs normally have a very slow turnover, but rapid cell division is necessary during wound healing for the formation of new blood vessels (9). Although EC proliferation is necessary for angiogenesis, vascular sprouting can still occur even if proliferation is inhibited (33).
Histological examination of chancroid ulcers shows blood vessels that are degenerated and infiltrated with polymorphonuclear leukocytes or thrombosed in the superficial zone. Below this zone, ECs are the dominating cell type and small, dilated blood vessels are oriented in a vertical arrangement (12, 15, 30). This observation and the fact that angiogenesis is important in wound healing suggest that ECs may be important targets in chancroid pathogenesis.
The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of HdCDT on ECs and on tubule formation in vitro.
ECs are sensitive to HdCDT. The effect of HdCDT on two normal human EC types was investigated. Normal human microvascular endothelial cells from adult dermal tissue (HMVEC-d; BioWhittaker, Walkersville, Md.) were cultured in microvascular endothelial growth medium (EGM-2MW; BioWhittaker) supplemented according to the manufacturer's instructions. Human umbilical vein ECs (HUVEC; Cascade Biologics Inc., Portland, Oreg.) were cultured in medium M200 (Cascade Biologics Inc.) without antibiotics.
The HdCDT preparation used was partially purified from the culture medium of Escherichia coli DH5
carrying cdtABC as described previously (37). All three CDT proteins are detected in this preparation by immunoblotting (13). The total amount of protein was 200 µg/ml, and the toxic titer, determined as previously described (27), was 107 cytopathic units (CPU)/ml (corresponding to 20 pg of protein/CPU/ml). Briefly, 1 CPU/ml was determined as the concentration required to reduce the number of HEp-2 cells by 50% compared to untreated control cultures.
ECs were seeded onto plates at a density of 5 x 103 cells/well, incubated overnight, and treated with 10 to 103 CPU/ml of the HdCDT preparation. A colorimetric assay based on the cleavage of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) (Sigma) by dehydrogenase enzymes in living cells was used to measure metabolic activity (20). Briefly, 50 µg of MTT was added to cells cultured for 1, 2, 3, or 4 days in 100 µl of medium, and the plates were incubated for a further 5 h at 37°C in 6% CO2. Formed crystals were dissolved in acid isopropanol, and the absorbance was measured by a Titertek Multiscan reader. The results are expressed as the differences between the absorbance at 570 and 630 nm with background subtraction (i.e., medium without cells).
The metabolic activities of both EC types showed similar dose-dependent inhibition by HdCDT. Figure 1 shows the impact of HdCDT on HMVEC-d. A concentration of 10 CPU/ml was sufficient for metabolic inhibition to about 50% after 72 h, which is 10 to 100 times the amount required to affect the epithelial cell line HEp-2. One CPU/ml reduced the number of HEp-2 cells to 50% after 48 h, and metabolic activity was reduced to about 50% after 72 h with as little as 0.1 CPU/ml (results not shown). This perhaps reflects a difference between continuous cell lines, which proliferate homogeneously, and normal cell lines (such as HMVEC-d and HUVEC), which consist of a more heterogeneous population of cells. The difference in sensitivity could also simply reflect a difference between the two types of cells.
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After 2 h in the presence of HdCDT, the cells expressed two bands that reacted with the anti-cdc-2 antibody, whereas only one reactive band could be seen in control cells (Fig. 3). The band with the higher molecular weight has previously been shown to be the phosphorylated (and inactive) cdc2 (7), and the lower-molecular-weight band has been shown to be the active and dephosphorylated variant. Dephosphorylation of cdc2 on Thr-14 and Tyr-15 is the final requirement before the cell can leave G2 and start mitosis. The two cdc-2-specific bands persisted for at least 12 h of toxin treatment. This finding is similar to that observed with other cell types, e.g., HEp-2 cells. Fibroblasts were previously shown to arrest in both the G2 and G1 phases and also expressed increased amounts of p53-ser 15 (8). p53 is involved mainly in regulation of G1 checkpoint through transcriptional induction of p21, which in turn can inhibit G1 cyclin-dependent kinases (21). p53 can also be involved in the G2 checkpoint (38). We were unable to detect any bands of p53-ser 15 in either control or HdCDT-treated cells during the 24 h assayed. It is possible that the cells express phosphorylated p53 at later time points, but this was not tested.
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Similar dose-dependent increases in ICAM-1 and E-selectin expression occurred in the presence of bacterial sonicates at dilutions from 1:102 to 1:105. The HdCDT-positive sonicates induced ICAM-1 expression in 76 and 88% of cells, and the control sonicates induced ICAM-1 in 75 and 91% of cells at concentrations of 100 and 1,000 CPU/ml, respectively. E-selectin expression was also induced to the same extent by the two sonicates but to a lower magnitude, i.e., 48 and 59% with HdCDT-positive sonicates and 41 and 56% with control sonicates, at concentrations of 100 and 1,000 CPU/ml, respectively (results not shown).
HdCDT inhibits the formation of tubuli. We used an in vitro angiogenesis model comprising human ECs cocultured with other human, fibroblast-like cells in a specially designed medium (Angiokit; TCS Cellworks, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom). The ECs initially form small islands within the culture matrix. They subsequently proliferate and then migrate, forming tubule structures. Tubule networks emerge after about 2 weeks in culture.
The partially purified HdCDT described above was added to cultured cells, in concentrations ranging from 102 to 105 CPU/ml, on day 1. On day 10 the cultures were fixed and stained for PECAM-1 (CD31; Tubule Staining Kit; TCS Cellworks) to allow the visualization of tubuli.
We found that HdCDT added at high concentrations (105 CPU/ml) abolished the formation of tubuli (Fig. 4D), while at lower concentrations (102 to 104 CPU/ml) it reduced tubular length and branching of tubuli (Fig. 4B and C). A relatively high concentration of HdCDT was needed to inhibit tubulus formation. A possible reason for this is the presence of a high number of other cell types making up the matrix in which small islands of ECs are found. The fibroblast-like cells were also affected by the high concentrations of HdCDT, seen as a reduced cellular density (Fig. 4D). This is in agreement with previous studies showing that human fibroblasts are sensitive to HdCDT (8, 35).
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HdCDT affects keratinocytes, fibroblasts, lymphocytes, and, as we have shown, ECs. All these cell types are important in the wound-healing process, and it therefore seems likely that HdCDT plays an important role in the characteristically slow healing of chancroid.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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We thank Teresa Frisan, MTC, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, and Leif Lindholm, Got-a-Gene AB, Göteborg, Sweden, for valuable discussions, and Vincent Collins, Dept. of Rheumatology, Göteborg University, for revising the manuscript and for helpful discussions.
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