Modulation of acute diarrheal illness by persistent bacterial infection.
Acute diarrheal illness is a global health problem that may be exacerbated by concurrent infection. Using Citrobacter rodentium, a murine model of attaching and effacing diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, we demonstrate that persistent Helicobacter hepaticus infection modulates host responses to diarrheal disease, resulting in delayed recovery from weight loss and from tissue damage. Chronic colitis in concurrently infected mice is characterized by macrophage and Foxp3(+) regulatory T-cell accumulation. Prolonged disease is also associated with increased interleukin-17 expression, which may be due to suppression of gamma interferon during the acute phase of diarrheal infection. This new model of polymicrobial infection provides insight into the mechanism by which subclinical infection can exacerbate morbidity due to an unrelated self-limiting infection.
McBee
Megan E
ME
Department of Biological Engineering, Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Zheng
Patricia Z
PZ
Rogers
Arlin B
AB
Fox
James G
JG
Schauer
David B
DB
D000818:Animals; D044082:Citrobacter rodentium; D003092:Colitis / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004403:Dysentery / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D004756:Enterobacteriaceae Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D044923:Helicobacter hepaticus; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
D016207:Cytokines; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; C498833:Foxp3 protein, mouse