Nucleolin, a shuttle protein promoting infection of human monocytes by Francisella tularensis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Francisella tularensis is a highly virulent facultative intracellular bacterium, disseminating in vivo mainly within host mononuclear phagocytes. After entry into macrophages, F. tularensis initially resides in a phagosomal compartment, whose maturation is then arrested. Bacteria escape rapidly into the cytoplasm, where they replicate freely. We recently demonstrated that nucleolin, an eukaryotic protein able to traffic from the nucleus to the cell surface, acted as a surface receptor for F. tularensis LVS on human monocyte-like THP-1 cells.

Methodology/principal findings

Here, we followed the fate of nucleolin once F. tularensis has been endocytosed. We first confirmed by siRNA silencing experiments that expression of nucleolin protein was essential for binding o

SUBMITTER: Barel M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2995743 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature