Neisseria meningitidis induces brain microvascular endothelial cell detachment from the matrix and cleavage of occludin: a role for MMP-8.

ABSTRACT: Disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a hallmark event in the pathophysiology of bacterial meningitis. Several inflammatory mediators, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), nitric oxide and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), contribute to this disruption. Here we show that infection of human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC) with Neisseria meningitidis induced an increase of permeability at prolonged time of infection. This was paralleled by an increase in MMP-8 activity in supernatants collected from infected cells. A detailed analysis revealed that MMP-8 was involved in the proteolytic cleavage of the tight junction protein occludin, resulting in its disappearance from the cell periphery and cleavage to a lower-sized 50-kDa protein in infected HBMEC. Abroga

SUBMITTER: Schubert-Unkmeir A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2861698 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature