PURPOSE. Multi-species biofilms associated with contact lens cases and lenses can predispose individuals to contact lensrelated inflammatory complications. Our study used cultureindependent methods to assess the relationship between the severity of contact lens-related disease and bacteria residing in biofilms of contact lens cases and lenses.METHODS. Contact lens cases and lenses from 28 patients referred to the West Virginia University Eye Institute and diagnosed as having mild keratitis, keratitis with focal infiltrates, or corneal ulcers were processed and evaluated for bacterial composition based on 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Cases and lenses from nine asymptomatic contact lens wearers were processed in a manner similar to controls. Relationships between disease severity, bacterial types, and bacterial diversity were evaluated statistically.RESULTS. Disease severity and presenting visual acuity correlated with an increase in the diversity of bacterial types isolated from contact lens cases. A significant difference also was observed in the number of bacterial types associated with the three clinical groups. Achromobacter, Stenotrophomonas, and Delftia were prevalent in all disease groups, and Achromobacter and Stenotrophomonas were present in one asymptomatic control. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that Achromobacter and Stenotrophomonas formed a biofilm on the surface of contact lenses.CONCLUSIONS. Culture-independent methods identified an association between disease severity and bacterial diversity in biofilms isolated from cases and lenses of patients with contact lens-related corneal disease. Achromobacter, Stenotrophomonas, and Delftia were predominant bacteria identified in our study, drawing attention to their emerging role in contact lensrelated disease. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2012;53:3896-3905)

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Laboratory studies on a group of 20 patients from the Rio Negro Valley, Colombia selected for detailed study showed that 14 gave antibody reactions on immunoassay consistent with Trypanosoma cruzi or T. rangeli infections. Four were diagnosed as having T. rangeli infection, 4 had mixed infections and 6 were infected with T. cruzi alone. Immunoprecipitation analysis showed that sera from T. cruzi-infected patients recognized a similar range of trypomastigote-derived polypeptides as sera from patients in Brazil, and all of the Colombian sera reacted with the 160 kiloDalton (kDa) polypeptide associated with active infection. Although sera from patients with T. rangeli infection alone gave a positive immunofluorescence or ELISA reaction with T. rangeli, they failed to bind to parasite polypeptides by either immunoprecipitation or Western blotting. Intriguingly, sera from patients with mixed infections consistently gave a stronger, but qualitatively similar, binding reaction in immunoprecipitation and Western blotting compared to sera from patients infected with T. cruzi alone.

Due to increasing rates of invasive Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium infection, there is a need for an effective vaccine to prevent this disease. Previous studies showed that a mutation in the first gene of the Enterobacterial common antigen biosynthetic pathway, wecA, resulted in attenuation of S. Typhimurium in a murine model of salmonellosis. Furthermore, immunization with a wecA(-) strain protected against lethal challenge with the parental wild type S. Typhimurium strain. Herein, we examined whether the S. Typhimurium wecA(-) strain could also provide cross-protection against non-parental strains of S. Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis. We found that intraperitoneal immunization (IP) with S. Typhimurium SL1344 wecA(-) resulted in a significant increase in survival compared to control mice for all Salmonella challenge strains tested. Oral immunization with SL1344 wecA(-) also resulted in increased survival; however, protection was less significant than with intraperitoneal immunization. The increase in survival of SL1344 wecA(-) immunized mice was associated with a Salmonella-specific IgG antibody response. Furthermore, analysis of sera from IP and orally immunized animals revealed cross-reactive antibodies to numerous Salmonella isolates. Functional analysis of antibodies found within the sera from IP immunized animals revealed agglutination and opsonophagocytic activity against all tested O:4 Salmonella serovars. Together these results indicate that immunization with a S. Typhimurium wecA(-) strain confers protection against lethal challenge with wild type S. Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis and that immunization correlates with functional antibody production.

Type III secretion (T3S) functions in establishing infections in a large number of Gram-negative bacteria, yet little is known about how host cell properties might function in this process. We used the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the ability to alter host cell sensitivity to Pseudomonas T3S to explore this problem. HT-29 epithelial cells were used to study cellular changes associated with loss of T3S sensitivity, which could be induced by treatment with methyl-beta-cyclodextrin or perfringolysin O. HL-60 promyelocytic cells are innately resistant to Pseudomonas T3S and were used to study cellular changes occurring in response to induction of T3S sensitivity, which occurred following treatment with phorbol esters. Using both cell models, a positive correlation was observed between eukaryotic cell adherence to tissue culture wells and T3S sensitivity. In examining the type of adhesion process linked to T3S sensitivity in HT-29 cells, a hierarchical order of protein involvement was identified that paralleled the architecture of leading edge (LE) focal complexes. Conversely, in HL-60 cells, induction of T3S sensitivity coincided with the onset of LE properties and the development of actin-rich projections associated with polarized cell migration. When LE architecture was examined by immunofluorescent staining for actin, Rac1, IQ-motif-containing GTPase-activating protein 1 (IQGAP1) and phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3 kinase), intact LE structure was found to closely correlate with host cell sensitivity to P. aeruginosa T3S. Our model for host cell involvement in Pseudomonas T3S proposes that cortical actin polymerization at the LE alters membrane properties to favour T3S translocon function and the establishment of infections, which is consistent with Pseudomonas infections targeting wounded epithelial barriers undergoing cell migration. INTRODUCTIONOriginally identified because of its role in Yersinia virulence (Cornelis et al., 1989), type III secretion (T3S) is now recognized to contribute to the pathogenesis of a large number of Gram-negative bacteria. T3S allows the direct translocation of 'effectors' from the bacterial cytosol into eukaryotic cells, enabling bacteria to manipulate host cells to establish infections while evading immune responses. The T3S system includes a bacterially formed 'injectisome' needle-like nanostructure that serves as a conduit for transferring bacterial effectors to eukaryotic cells. A bacterially formed 'translocon' channel is then believed to mediate effector translocation across host cell membranes. The mechanism underlying T3S translocon channel formation and host involvement in this process remain the least understood events in T3S. We have used the Abbreviations: CTB, cholera toxin B subunit; dsPFO, prepore locked PFO; HA, haemagglutinin; IF, immunofluorescent/immunofluorescence; IQGAP1, IQ-motif-containing GTPase-activating protein 1; LatB, latrunculin B; LE, leading edge; MbCD, methyl-beta-cyclodextrin; MT, microtubule; Pa-ExoS-HA, P. aeruginosa stra...

Purpose of Review Infection with the Gram-negative, microaerophilic pathogen Helicobacter pylori results in gastric cancer (GC) in a subset of infected individuals. As such, H. pylori is the only World Health Organization classified bacterial class I carcinogen. Numerous studies have identified mechanisms by which H. pylori alters host cell signaling pathways to cause disease. The purpose of this review is to highlight recent studies that explore mechanisms associated with induction of GC. Recent Findings Over the last year and a half, new mechanisms contributing to the etiology of H. pylori associated GC development have been discovered. In addition to utilizing the oncogenic CagA toxin to alter host cell signaling pathways, H. pylori also induces host DNA damage and alters DNA methylation to perturb downstream signaling. Furthermore, H. pylori activates numerous host cell pathways and proteins that result in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and induction of cell survival and proliferation. Summary Mounting evidence suggests that H. pylori promotes gastric carcinogenesis using a multifactorial approach. Intriguingly, many of the targeted pathways and mechanism show commonality with diverse forms of cancer.

The polymorphic CagA toxin is associated with Helicobacter pylori-induced disease. Previous data generated using non-isogenic strains and transfection models suggest that variation surrounding the C-terminal Glu-Pro-Ile-Tyr-Ala (EPIYA) motifs as well as the number of EPIYA motifs influence disease outcome. To investigate potential CagA-mediated effects on host cell signaling, we constructed and characterized a large panel of isogenic H. pylori strains that differ primarily in the CagA EPIYA region. The number of EPIYA-C motifs or the presence of an EPIYA-D motif impacted early changes in host cell elongation; however, the degree of elongation was comparable across all strains at later time points. In contrast, the strain carrying the EPIYA-D motif induced more IL-8 secretion than any other EPIYA type, and a single EPIYA-C motif induced comparable IL-8 secretion as isolates carrying multiple EPIYA-C alleles. Similar levels of ERK1/2 activation were induced by all strains carrying a functional CagA allele. Together, our data suggest that polymorphism in the CagA C-terminus is responsible for differential alterations in some, but not all, host cell signaling pathways. Notably, our results differ from non-isogenic strain studies, thus highlighting the importance of using isogenic strains to study the role of CagA toxin polymorphism in gastric cancer development.

ABSTRACTThe opportunistic pathogenPseudomonas aeruginosatargets wounded epithelial barriers, but the cellular alteration that increases susceptibility toP. aeruginosainfection remains unclear. This study examined how cell migration contributes to the establishment ofP. aeruginosainfections using (i) highly migratory T24 epithelial cells as a cell culture model, (ii) mutations in the type III secretion (T3S) effector ExoS to manipulateP. aeruginosainfection, and (iii) high-resolution immunofluorescent microscopy to monitor ExoS translocation. ExoS includes both GTPase-activating (GAP) and ADP-ribosyltransferase (ADPRT) activities, andP. aeruginosacells expressing wild-type ExoS preferentially bound to the leading edge of T24 cells, where ExoS altered leading-edge architecture and actin anchoring in conjunction with interrupting T3S translocation. Inactivation of ExoS GAP activity allowedP. aeruginosato be internalized and secrete ExoS within T24 cells, but as with wild-type ExoS, translocation was limited in association with disruption of actin anchoring. Inactivation of ExoS ADPRT activity resulted in significantly enhanced T3S translocation byP. aeruginosacells that remained extracellular and in conjunction with maintenance of actin-plasma membrane association. Infection withP. aeruginosaexpressing ExoS lacking both GAP and ADPRT activities resulted in the highest level of T3S translocation, and this occurred in conjunction with the entry and alignment ofP. aeruginosaand ExoS along actin filaments. Collectively, in using ExoS mutants to modulate and visualize T3S translocation, we were able to (i) confirm effector secretion by internalizedP. aeruginosa, (ii) differentiate the mechanisms underlying the effects of ExoS GAP and ADPRT activities onP. aeruginosainternalization and T3S translocation, (iii) confirm that ExoS ADPRT activity targeted a cellular substrate that interrupted T3S translocation, (iv) visualize the ability ofP. aeruginosaand ExoS to align with actin filaments, and (v) demonstrate an association between actin anchoring at the leading edge of T24 cells and the establishment ofP. aeruginosainfection. Our studies also highlight the contribution of ExoS to the opportunistic nature ofP. aeruginosainfection through its ability to exert cytotoxic effects that interrupt T3S translocation andP. aeruginosainternalization, which in turn limit theP. aeruginosainfectious process.