Mechanical competition triggered by innate immune signaling drives the collective extrusion of bacterially infected epithelial cells.

ABSTRACT: Intracellular pathogens alter their host cells' mechanics to promote dissemination through tissues. Conversely, host cells may respond to the presence of pathogens by altering their mechanics to limit infection. Here, we monitored epithelial cell monolayers infected with intracellular bacterial pathogens, Listeria monocytogenes or Rickettsia parkeri, over days. Under conditions in which these pathogens trigger innate immune signaling through NF-κB and use actin-based motility to spread non-lytically intercellularly, we found that infected cell domains formed three-dimensional mounds. These mounds resulted from uninfected cells moving toward the infection site, collectively squeezing the softer and less contractile infected cells upward and ejecting them from the monolayer. Bacteria in moun

SUBMITTER: Bastounis EE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7982222 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature