Transcriptional profiling of human epithelial cells infected with plasmid-bearing and plasmid-deficient Chlamydia trachomatis.

ABSTRACT: Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular epitheliotropic bacterial pathogen of humans. Infection of the eye can result in trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. The pathophysiology of blinding trachoma is driven by multiple episodes of reinfection of conjunctival epithelial cells, producing an intense chronic inflammatory response resulting in submucosal tissue remodeling and scarring. Recent reports have shown that infection with trachoma organisms lacking the cryptic chlamydial plasmid is highly attenuated in macaque eyes, a relevant experimental model of human trachoma infection. To better understand the molecular basis of plasmid-mediated infection attenuation and the potential modulation of host immunity, we conducted transcriptional profiling of

SUBMITTER: Porcella SF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4294249 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature