Adhesion Molecules Associated with Female Genital Tract Infection.
Efforts to develop vaccines that can elicit mucosal immune responses in the female genital tract against sexually transmitted infections have been hampered by an inability to measure immune responses in these tissues. The differential expression of adhesion molecules is known to confer site-dependent homing of circulating effector T cells to mucosal tissues. Specific homing molecules have been defined that can be measured in blood as surrogate markers of local immunity (e.g. α4β7 for gut). Here we analyzed the expression pattern of adhesion molecules by circulating effector T cells following mucosal infection of the female genital tract in mice and during a symptomatic episode of vaginosis in women. While CCR2, CCR5, CXCR6 and CD11c were preferentially expressed in a mouse model of Chlamydia infection, only CCR5 and CD11c were clearly expressed by effector T cells during bacterial vaginosis in women. Other homing molecules previously suggested as required for homing to the genital mucosa such as α4β1 and α4β7 were also differentially expressed in these patients. However, CD11c expression, an integrin chain rarely analyzed in the context of T cell immunity, was the most consistently elevated in all activated effector CD8+ T cell subsets analyzed. This molecule was also induced after systemic infection in mice, suggesting that CD11c is not exclusive of genital tract infection. Still, its increase in response to genital tract disorders may represent a novel surrogate marker of mucosal immunity in women, and warrants further exploration for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.
Mucosal Immunology Unit, Institut d'Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), AIDS Research Institute IrsiCaixa-HIVACAT, Can Ruti Campus, Badalona, Spain.
Jamal
J
Qualai
Mucosal Immunology Unit, Institut d'Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), AIDS Research Institute IrsiCaixa-HIVACAT, Can Ruti Campus, Badalona, Spain.
Jon
J
Cantero
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America.
Lin-Xi
LX
Li
Department of Dermatology, University Hospital "Germans Trias i Pujol," Badalona, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
José Manuel
JM
Carrascosa
Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital "Germans Trias i Pujol," Can Ruti Campus, Badalona, Catalonia, Spain.|Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), Madrid, Spain.
Eduard
E
Cabré
Atenció Salut Sexual i Reproductiva (ASSIR), Centre d'Atenció Primària (CAP) Sant Fèlix, Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Sabadell, Spain.
Olga
O
Dern
Genomics and Bioinformatics Group, Institute for Predictive and Personalized Medicine of Cancer (IMPPC), Can Ruti Campus, Badalona, Spain.
Lauro
L
Sumoy
Flow Cytometry Unit, Institut d'Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain.
Gerard
G
Requena
Center for Comparative Medicine (CCM), Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Stephen J
SJ
McSorley
Mucosal Immunology Unit, Institut d'Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), AIDS Research Institute IrsiCaixa-HIVACAT, Can Ruti Campus, Badalona, Spain.
Meritxell
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6413-3812
M
Genescà
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D039521:CD11c Antigen / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000662:veterinary; D023502:Chlamydia muridarum / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006194:Gardnerella vaginalis / Q000276:immunology*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D039041:Integrin alpha4beta1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D054390:Receptors, CCR2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019713:Receptors, CCR5 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D054399:Receptors, CCR6 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D016585:Vaginosis, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
C515334:CCR2 protein, human; C584933:CCR5 protein, human; C106311:CCR6 protein, human; D039521:CD11c Antigen; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D039041:Integrin alpha4beta1; D054390:Receptors, CCR2; D019713:Receptors, CCR5; D054399:Receptors, CCR6