TY  - JOUR
A1  - Vaca Llerena, Diana Jaqueline
A1  - Frenzel, Fabienne
A1  - Ballhorn, Wibke
A1  - Garcia Torres, Sara
A1  - Leisegang, Matthias
A1  - Günther, Stefan
A1  - Bender, Daniela
A1  - Kraiczy, Peter
A1  - Göttig, Stephan
A1  - Kempf, Volkhard A. J.
T1  - Adhesion of human pathogenic bacteria to endothelial cells is facilitated by fibronectin interaction
T2  - Microbes and Infection
N2  - Human pathogenic bacteria circulating in the bloodstream need to find a way to interact with endothelial cells (ECs) lining the blood vessels to infect and colonise the host. The extracellular matrix (ECM) of ECs might represent an attractive initial target for bacterial interaction, as many bacterial adhesins have reported affinities to ECM proteins, in particular to fibronectin (Fn). Here, we analysed the general role of EC-expressed Fn for bacterial adhesion. For this, we evaluated the expression levels of ECM coding genes in different ECs, revealing that Fn is the highest expressed gene and thereby, it is highly abundant in the ECM environment of ECs. The role of Fn as a mediator in bacterial cell-host adhesion was evaluated in adhesion assays of Acinetobacter baumannii, Bartonella henselae, Borrelia burgdorferi, and Staphylococcus aureus to ECs. The assays demonstrated that bacteria colocalised with Fn fibres, as observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Fn removal from the ECM environment (FN1 knockout ECs) diminished bacterial adherence to ECs in both static and dynamic adhesion assays to varying extents, as evaluated via absolute quantification using qPCR. Interactions between adhesins and Fn might represent the crucial step for the adhesion of human-pathogenic Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria targeting the ECs as a niche of infection.
KW  - Endothelium
KW  - Extracellular matrix
KW  - Fibronectin
KW  - Bacterial adhesion
KW  - Bacteria-host interaction
Y1  - 2023
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/77103
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-771031
SN  - 1286-4579
VL  - 25
IS  - 7, 105172
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -