Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases
Online ISSN : 1884-2836
Print ISSN : 1344-6304
ISSN-L : 1344-6304
Short Communication
Mycobacterium tuberculosis Pili Promote Adhesion to and Invasion of THP-1 Macrophages
Saiyur RamsugitManormoney Pillay
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2014 Volume 67 Issue 6 Pages 476-478

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Abstract

Central to the paradigm of the pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is its ability to attach to, enter, and subsequently survive in host macrophages. However, little is known regarding the bacterial adhesins and invasins involved in this interaction with host macrophages. Pili are cell-surface structures produced by certain bacteria and have been implicated in adhesion to and invasion of phagocytes in several species. M. tuberculosis pili (MTP) are encoded by the Rv3312A (mtp) gene. In the present study, we assessed the ability of a Δmtp mutant and an mtp-complemented clinical strain to adhere to and invade THP-1 macrophages in comparison with the parental strain by determining colony-forming units. Both adhesion to and invasion of macrophages, although not reaching significance, were markedly reduced by 42.16% (P = 0.107) and 69.02% (P = 0.052), respectively, in the pili-deficient Δmtp mutant as compared with the wild-type. The pili-overexpressing complemented strain showed significantly higher levels of THP-1 macrophage adhesion (P = 0.000) and invasion (P = 0.040) than the mutant. We, thus, identified a novel adhesin and invasin of M. tuberculosis involved in adhesion to and invasion of macrophages.

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