title: Anthrax lethal toxin induces human endothelial cell apoptosis.
abstract: Because of its ease of dispersal and high lethality, Bacillus anthracis is one of the most feared biowarfare agents. A better understanding of anthrax pathogenesis is urgently needed to develop new therapies for systemic disease that is relatively unresponsive to antibiotics. Although experimental evidence has implicated a role for macrophages in anthrax pathogenesis, clinical and pathological observations suggest that a direct insult to the host vasculature may also be important. Two bacterial toxins, lethal toxin and edema toxin, are believed to mediate the clinical sequelae of anthrax. Here, I examined whether these toxins are directly toxic to endothelial cells, the cell type that lines the interior of blood vessels. I show for the first time that lethal toxin but not edema toxin reduces the viability of cultured human endothelial cells and induces caspase-dependent endothelial apoptosis. In addition, this toxicity affects both microvascular and large vessel endothelial cells as well as endothelial cells that have differentiated into tubules within a type I collagen extracellular matrix. Finally, lethal toxin induces cleavage of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases in endothelial cells and inhibits phosphorylation of ERK, p38, and JNK p46. Based on the contributions of these pathways to endothelial survival, I propose that lethal toxin-mediated cytotoxicity/apoptosis results primarily through inhibition of the ERK pathway. I also hypothesize that the observed endothelial toxicity contributes to vascular pathology and hemorrhage during systemic anthrax.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Division of Cancer Biology and Angiogenesis, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. jekirby@bidmc.harvard.edu
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Kirby
mesh_terms: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D017209:Apoptosis; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000737:chemistry; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D014471:Umbilical Veins
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; C030325:anthrax toxin; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases