title: Hypoxia-inducible factor-dependent regulation of platelet-activating factor receptor as a route for gram-positive bacterial translocation across epithelia.
abstract: Mucosal surfaces, such as the lung and intestine, are lined by a monolayer of epithelia that provides tissue barrier and transport function. It is recently appreciated that a common feature of inflammatory processes within the mucosa is hypoxia (so-called inflammatory hypoxia). Given the strong association between bacterial translocation and mucosal inflammatory disease, we hypothesized that intestinal epithelial hypoxia influences bacterial translocation. Initial studies revealed that exposure of cultured intestinal epithelia to hypoxia (pO(2), 20 torr; 24-48 h) resulted in a increase of up to 40-fold in the translocation of some strains of Gram-positive bacteria, independently of epithelial barrier function. A screen of relevant pathway inhibitors identified a prominent role for the platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFr) in hypoxia-associated bacterial translocation, wherein pharmacologic antagonists of PAFr blocked bacterial translocation by as much as 80 +/- 6%. Extensions of these studies revealed that hypoxia prominently induces PAFr through a hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-dependent mechanism. Indeed, HIF and PAFr loss of function studies (short hairpin RNA) revealed that apically expressed PAFr is central to the induction of translocation for the Gram-positive bacteria Enterococcus faecalis. Together, these findings reveal that some strains of Gram-positive bacteria exploit HIF-regulated PAFr as a means for translocation through intestinal epithelial cells.
authors.affiliation: Mucosal Inflammation Program, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO 80045, USA. simon.keely@ucdenver.edu
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keely
authors.forename: Louise E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Glover
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Weissmueller
authors.forename: Christopher F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: MacManus
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fillon
authors.forename: Blair
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fennimore
authors.forename: Sean P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Colgan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport / Q000502:physiology; D018938:Caco-2 Cells; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000378:metabolism; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D010980:Platelet Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D034622:RNA Interference; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
chemical_list: D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; D007527:Isoenzymes; D010980:Platelet Membrane Glycoproteins; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; C039351:platelet activating factor receptor