Virulent Shigella flexneri subverts the host innate immune response through manipulation of antimicrobial peptide gene expression.

ABSTRACT: Antimicrobial factors are efficient defense components of the innate immunity, playing a crucial role in the intestinal homeostasis and protection against pathogens. In this study, we report that upon infection of polarized human intestinal cells in vitro, virulent Shigella flexneri suppress transcription of several genes encoding antimicrobial cationic peptides, particularly the human beta-defensin hBD-3, which we show to be especially active against S. flexneri. This is an example of targeted survival strategy. We also identify the MxiE bacterial regulator, which controls a regulon encompassing a set of virulence plasmid-encoded effectors injected into host cells and regulating innate signaling, as being responsible for this dedicated regulatory process. In vivo, in a model of human inte

SUBMITTER: Sperandio B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2373844 | biostudies-literature | 2008 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature