The Role of Cutibacterium acnes in Intervertebral Disc Inflammation.

ABSTRACT: Recently, the role of infection of the intervertebral disc (IVD) with Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) as a contributor to disc-related low back pain (LBP) has been discussed. The aim of this study was to investigate whether and how C. acnes contributes to the inflammatory processes during IVD disease. The prevalence of C. acnes infection in human IVD tissue was determined by aerobic and anaerobic culture. Thereafter, primary human IVD cells were infected with a reference and a clinical C. acnes strain and analyzed for pro-inflammatory markers (gene/protein level). In a subsequent experiment, the involvement of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) pathway was investigated by co-treatment with sparstolonin B, a TLR2/4 inhibitor. We detected C. acnes in 10% of IVD biopsies (with either herniation or d

SUBMITTER: Schmid B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7400222 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature