| Title | Lactobacillus crispatus and its enolase and glutamine synthetase influence interactions between Neisseria gonorrhoeae and human epithelial cells |
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| Author | Jagoda Płaczkiewicz1, Paulina Chmiel1, Ewelina Malinowska1, Pawel Bącal2, and Agnieszka Kwiatek1* |
| Address | 1Department of Virology, Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Miecznikowa 1, 02-096 Warsaw, Poland, 2Nalecz Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, Ks. Trojdena 4, 02-109 Warsaw, Poland |
| Bibliography | Journal of Microbiology, 58(5),405-414, 2020, |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12275-020-9505-9 |
| Key Words | Neisseria gonorrhoeae, enolase, glutamine synthetase, microbiota, Lactobacillus crispatus |
| Abstract | Neisseria gonorrhoeae, an obligatory human pathogen causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea, which remains a global health problem. N. gonorrhoeae primarily infects the mucosa of the genitourinary tract, which in women, is colonized by natural microbiota, dominated by Lactobacillus spp., that protect human cells against pathogens. In this study, we demonstrated that precolonization of human epithelial cells with Lactobacillus crispatus, one of the most prevalent bacteria in the female urogenital tract, or preincubation with the L. crispatus enolase or glutamine synthetase impairs the adhesion and invasiveness of N. gonorrhoeae toward epithelial cells, two crucial steps in gonococcal pathogenesis. Furthermore, decreased expression of genes encoding the proinflammatory cytokines, TNFα and CCL20, which are secreted as a consequence of N. gonorrhoeae infection, was observed in N. gonorrhoeae-infected epithelial cells that had been precolonized with L. crispatus or preincubated with enolase and glutamine synthetase. Thus, our results indicate that the protection of human cells against N. gonorrhoeae infection is a complex process and that L. crispatus and its proteins enolase and glutamine synthetase can have a potential role in protecting epithelial cells against gonococcal infection. Therefore, these results are important since disturbances of the microbiota or of its proteins can result in dysbiosis, which is associated with increased susceptibility of epithelium to pathogens. |