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The obligate intracellular pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis replicates within a membrane-bound inclusion that acquires host sphingomyelin (SM), a process that is essential for replication as well as inclusion biogenesis. Previous studies demonstrate that SM is acquired by a Brefeldin A (BFA)-sensitive vesicular trafficking pathway, although paradoxically, this pathway is dispensable for bacterial replication. This finding suggests that other lipid transport mechanisms are involved in the acquisition of host SM. In this work, we interrogated the role of specific components of BFA-sensitive and BFA-insensitive lipid trafficking pathways to define their contribution in SM acquisition during infection. We found that C. trachomatis hijacks components of both vesicular and non-vesicular lipid trafficking pathways for SM acquisition but that the SM obtained from these separate pathways is being utilized by the pathogen in different ways. We show that C. trachomatis selectively co-opts only one of the three known BFA targets, GBF1, a regulator of Arf1-dependent vesicular trafficking within the early secretory pathway for vesicle-mediated SM acquisition. The Arf1/GBF1-dependent pathway of SM acquisition is essential for inclusion membrane growth and stability but is not required for bacterial replication. In contrast, we show that C. trachomatis co-opts CERT, a lipid transfer protein that is a key component in non-vesicular ER to trans-Golgi trafficking of ceramide (the precursor for SM), for C. trachomatis replication. We demonstrate that C. trachomatis recruits CERT, its ER binding partner, VAP-A, and SM synthases, SMS1 and SMS2, to the inclusion and propose that these proteins establish an on-site SM biosynthetic factory at or near the inclusion. We hypothesize that SM acquired by CERT-dependent transport of ceramide and subsequent conversion to SM is necessary for C. trachomatis replication whereas SM acquired by the GBF1-dependent pathway is essential for inclusion growth and stability. Our results reveal a novel mechanism by which an intracellular pathogen redirects SM biosynthesis to its replicative niche.

BackgroundMobile text messaging and medication monitors (medication monitor boxes) have the potential to improve adherence to tuberculosis (TB) treatment and reduce the need for directly observed treatment (DOT), but to our knowledge they have not been properly evaluated in TB patients. We assessed the effectiveness of text messaging and medication monitors to improve medication adherence in TB patients.Methods and FindingsIn a pragmatic cluster-randomised trial, 36 districts/counties (each with at least 300 active pulmonary TB patients registered in 2009) within the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Hunan, and Chongqing, China, were randomised using stratification and restriction to one of four case-management approaches in which patients received reminders via text messages, a medication monitor, combined, or neither (control). Patients in the intervention arms received reminders to take their drugs and reminders for monthly follow-up visits, and the managing doctor was recommended to switch patients with adherence problems to more intensive management or DOT. In all arms, patients took medications out of a medication monitor box, which recorded when the box was opened, but the box gave reminders only in the medication monitor and combined arms. Patients were followed up for 6 mo. The primary endpoint was the percentage of patient-months on TB treatment where at least 20% of doses were missed as measured by pill count and failure to open the medication monitor box. Secondary endpoints included additional adherence and standard treatment outcome measures. Interventions were not masked to study staff and patients. From 1 June 2011 to 7 March 2012, 4,292 new pulmonary TB patients were enrolled across the 36 clusters. A total of 119 patients (by arm: 33 control, 33 text messaging, 23 medication monitor, 30 combined) withdrew from the study in the first month because they were reassessed as not having TB by their managing doctor (61 patients) or were switched to a different treatment model because of hospitalisation or travel (58 patients), leaving 4,173 TB patients (by arm: 1,104 control, 1,008 text messaging, 997 medication monitor, 1,064 combined). The cluster geometric mean of the percentage of patient-months on TB treatment where at least 20% of doses were missed was 29.9% in the control arm; in comparison, this percentage was 27.3% in the text messaging arm (adjusted mean ratio [aMR] 0.94, 95% CI 0.71, 1.24), 17.0% in the medication monitor arm (aMR 0.58, 95% CI 0.42, 0.79), and 13.9% in the combined arm (aMR 0.49, 95% CI 0.27, 0.88). Patient loss to follow-up was lower in the text messaging arm than the control arm (aMR 0.42, 95% CI 0.18–0.98). Equipment malfunction or operation error was reported in all study arms. Analyses separating patients with and without medication monitor problems did not change the results. Initiation of intensive management was underutilised.ConclusionsThis study is the first to our knowledge to utilise a randomised trial design to demonstrate the effectiveness of a medication mon...

BackgroundAlthough seasonal variation in tuberculosis (TB) incidence has been described in many countries, it remains unknown in China.MethodsA time series decomposition analysis (X-12-ARIMA) was performed to examine the seasonal variation in active TB cases nationwide from 2005 through 2012 in China. Seasonal amplitude was calculated for the evaluation of TB seasonal variation.ResultsA total of 7.78 million active TB cases were reported over a period of 8 years. A spring peak (April) was observed with seasonal amplitude of 46.3%, compared with the winter trough (February). Most cases in provinces with subtropical and tropical monsoon climate showed lower amplitudes than those in temperate continental, plateau and mountain climate regions. The magnitude of seasonality varied inversely with annual average temperature, r (95% CI) = -0.71 (-0.79, -0.61). The seasonal amplitudes were 56.7, 60.5, 40.6, 46.4 and 50.9% for patients aged ≤14, 15–24, 25–44, 45–64, and ≥65 years, respectively. Students demonstrated greater seasonal amplitude than peasants, migrant workers and workers (115.3% vs. 43.5, 41.6 and 48.1%). Patients with pulmonary TB had lower amplitude compared to patients with pleural and other extra-pulmonary TB (EPTB) (45.9% vs. 52.0 and 56.3%). Relapse cases with sputum smear positive TB (SS+ TB) had significantly higher seasonal amplitude compared to new cases with sputum smear positive TB (52.2% vs. 41.6%).ConclusionsTB is a seasonal disease in China. The peak and trough of TB transmission actually are in winter and in autumn respectively after factors of delay are removed. Higher amplitudes of TB seasonality are more likely to happen in temperate continental, plateau and mountain climate regions and regions with lower annual average temperature, and young person, students, patients with EPTB and relapse cases with SS+ TB are more likely to be affected by TB seasonality.

BackgroundAlthough a previous meta-analysis reported no association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and prostate cancer risk, a number of studies suggest that MetS may be associated with the aggressiveness and progression of prostate cancer. However, these results have been inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the nature of this association.MethodsWe systematically searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and bibliographies of retrieved studies up to January 2013 using the keywords “metabolic syndrome” and “prostate cancer”. We assessed relative risks (RRs) of the prostate cancer, several parameters of prostate cancer aggressiveness and progression associated with MetS using 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs).ResultsThe literature search produced 547 hits from which 19 papers were extracted for the meta-analysis. In cancer-free population with and without MetS, the combined adjusted RR (95% CI) of prostate cancer risk and prostate cancer-specific mortality in longitudinal cohort studies is 0.96 (0.85 ~ 1.09) and 1.12 (1.02 ~ 1.23) respectively. In the prostate cancer patients with and without MetS, the combined unadjusted OR (95% CI) of high grade Gleason prostate cancer is 1.44 (1.20 ~ 1.72), the OR of advanced prostate cancer is 1.37 (1.12 ~ 1.68) and the OR of biochemical recurrence is 2.06 (1.43 ~ 2.96).ConclusionsThe overall analyses revealed no association between MetS and prostate cancer risk, although men with MetS appear more likely to have high-grade prostate cancer and more advanced disease, were at greater risk of progression after radical prostatectomy and were more likely to suffer prostate cancer-specific death. Further primary studies with adjustment for appropriate confounders and larger, prospective, multicenter investigations are required.

Although initially thought to be transcriptional noise, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are gaining increased attention in human cancers as its diversity function. At present, lncRNAs are regarded as the main part of competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network due to its regulation on protein-coding gene expression by acting as miRNA sponges. However, functional roles of lncRNA-mediated ceRNAs in muscle-invasive bladder cancer remain unclear. To clarify relevant potential mechanisms, here we comprehensively compared the expression profiles of mRNAs, lncRNAs and miRNAs between 322 muscle-invasive bladder cancer tissues and 19 non-tumor bladder tissues, based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). A total of 22 lncRNAs were identified as aberrantly expressed and had correlations with tumorigenesis and/or progression of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (|log2FoldChange| > 1.5, corrected P value < 0.01). 6 out of the 22 dysregulated lncRNAs functioned as prognostic biomarkers for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer according to the overall survival analysis (P value < 0.05). Finally, a dysregulated lncRNA-associated ceRNA network was successfully constructed, which inculdes five muscle-invasive bladder cancer-specific lncRNAs, nine miRNAs and 32 mRNAs. In summary, our study identified novel lncRNAs as candidate prognostic biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, based on large-scale sample size. More importantly, the newly identified ceRNA network will be beneficial for improving the understanding of lncRNA-mediated ceRNA regulatory mechanisms in the pathogenesis of muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

The molecular details of Chlamydia trachomatis binding, entry, and spread are incompletely understood, but heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) play a role in the initial binding steps. As cell surface HSPGs facilitate the interactions of many growth factors with their receptors, we investigated the role of HSPG-dependent growth factors in C. trachomatis infection. Here, we report a novel finding that Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 (FGF2) is necessary and sufficient to enhance C. trachomatis binding to host cells in an HSPG-dependent manner. FGF2 binds directly to elementary bodies (EBs) where it may function as a bridging molecule to facilitate interactions of EBs with the FGF receptor (FGFR) on the cell surface. Upon EB binding, FGFR is activated locally and contributes to bacterial uptake into non-phagocytic cells. We further show that C. trachomatis infection stimulates fgf2 transcription and enhances production and release of FGF2 through a pathway that requires bacterial protein synthesis and activation of the Erk1/2 signaling pathway but that is independent of FGFR activation. Intracellular replication of the bacteria results in host proteosome-mediated degradation of the high molecular weight (HMW) isoforms of FGF2 and increased amounts of the low molecular weight (LMW) isoforms, which are released upon host cell death. Finally, we demonstrate the in vivo relevance of these findings by showing that conditioned medium from C. trachomatis infected cells is enriched for LMW FGF2, accounting for its ability to enhance C. trachomatis infectivity in additional rounds of infection. Together, these results demonstrate that C. trachomatis utilizes multiple mechanisms to co-opt the host cell FGF2 pathway to enhance bacterial infection and spread.

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