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 Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Giacani, L.
Right arrow Articles by Lukehart, S. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Giacani, L.
Right arrow Articles by Lukehart, S. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, January 2007, p. 104-112, Vol. 75, No. 1
0019-9567/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.01124-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Quantitative Analysis of tpr Gene Expression in Treponema pallidum Isolates: Differences among Isolates and Correlation with T-Cell Responsiveness in Experimental Syphilis{triangledown}

Lorenzo Giacani,1 Barbara Molini,1 Charmie Godornes,1 Lynn Barrett,1 Wesley Van Voorhis,1,2 Arturo Centurion-Lara,1,2 and Sheila A. Lukehart1,2*

Departments of Medicine,1 Pathobiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 981952

Received 18 July 2006/ Returned for modification 18 August 2006/ Accepted 2 October 2006

Transcriptional analysis of the tpr genes in Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (referred to here as simply T. pallidum) has been limited to date, and yet the expression of members of this gene family is likely relevant to the pathogenesis of syphilis. Recently, immunological studies and semiquantitative mRNA analysis led to the hypothesis of the modulation of tpr gene transcription during infection and suggested that various strains of T. pallidum might differentially express these genes. In this study we developed a real-time amplification assay to quantify the tpr mRNAs with respect to the 47-kDa lipoprotein message and to compare transcript levels among four different strains of T. pallidum. In addition, we analyzed the lymphocyte responsiveness pattern toward the Tpr antigens in late experimental syphilis to identify tpr genes that had been expressed during the course of infection. The T-cell response has been implicated in clearance of treponemes from early lesions, and some of the Tprs were identified as strong targets of the cellular immune response. We show that message for many of the tpr genes can be detected in treponemes harvested at the peak of early infection. Interestingly, tprK seems to be preferentially expressed in almost every strain, and it is uniformly the target of the strongest cellular immune response. These studies demonstrate the differential expression of certain tpr genes among strains of T. pallidum, and further studies are needed to explore the relationship between tpr gene expression and the clinical course of syphilis in infected individuals.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Medicine, Box 359779, Harborview Medical Center, 325 Ninth Ave., Seattle, WA 98104-2499. Phone: (206) 341-5362. Fax: (206) 341-5363. E-mail: lukehart{at}u.washington.edu.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 9 October 2006.

Editor: W. A. Petri, Jr.

Infection and Immunity, January 2007, p. 104-112, Vol. 75, No. 1
0019-9567/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.01124-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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