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Ling H, Luo L, Dai X, Chen H. Fallopian tubal infertility: the result of Chlamydia trachomatis-induced fallopian tubal fibrosis. Mol Cell Biochem 2021; 477:205-212. [PMID: 34652537 DOI: 10.1007/s11010-021-04270-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis is one of the most common pathogens of sexually transmitted diseases, and its incidence in genital tract infections is now 4.7% in south China. Infertility is the end result of C. trachomatis-induced fallopian tubal fibrosis and is receiving intense attention from scientists worldwide. To reduce the incidence of infertility, it is important to understand the pathology-related changes of the genital tract where C. trachomatis infection is significant, especially the mechanism of fibrosis formation. During fibrosis development, the fallopian tube becomes sticky and occluded, which will eventually lead to tubal infertility. At present, the mechanism of fallopian tubal fibrosis induced by C. trachomatis infection is unclear. Our study attempted to summarize the possible mechanisms of fibrosis caused by C. trachomatis infection in the fallopian tube by reviewing published studies and further providing potential therapeutic targets to reduce the occurrence of infertility. This study also provides ideas for future research. Factors leading to fallopian tube fibrosis include inflammatory factors, miRNA, ECT, cHSP, and host factors. We hypothesized that C. trachomatis mediates the transcription and translation of EMT and ECM via upregulating TGF signaling pathway, which leads to the formation of fallopian tube fibrosis and ultimately to tubal infertility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hua Ling
- The First People's Hospital of Chenzhou, The First School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Chenzhou, 423000, People's Republic of China
| | - Lipei Luo
- The First People's Hospital of Chenzhou, The First School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Chenzhou, 423000, People's Republic of China
| | - Xingui Dai
- The First People's Hospital of Chenzhou, The First School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Chenzhou, 423000, People's Republic of China.
- The First People's Hospital of Chenzhou, Chenzhou, 423000, People's Republic of China.
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiangnan University, Chenzhou, 423000, People's Republic of China.
| | - Hongliang Chen
- The First People's Hospital of Chenzhou, The First School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Chenzhou, 423000, People's Republic of China.
- The First People's Hospital of Chenzhou, Chenzhou, 423000, People's Republic of China.
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiangnan University, Chenzhou, 423000, People's Republic of China.
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3
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Ka HI, Lee S, Han S, Jeong AL, Park JY, Joo HJ, Soh SJ, Park D, Yang Y. Deubiquitinase USP47-stabilized splicing factor IK regulates the splicing of ATM pre-mRNA. Cell Death Discov 2020; 6:34. [PMID: 32377397 PMCID: PMC7198525 DOI: 10.1038/s41420-020-0268-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2020] [Revised: 03/24/2020] [Accepted: 04/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
IK depletion leads to an aberrant mitotic entry because of chromosomal misalignment through the enhancement of Aurora B activity at the interphase. Here, we demonstrate that IK, a spliceosomal component, plays a crucial role in the proper splicing of the ATM pre-mRNA among other genes related with the DNA Damage Response (DDR). Intron 1 in the ATM pre-mRNA, having lengths <200 bp, was not spliced in the IK-depleted cells and led to a deficiency of the ATM protein. Subsequently, the IK depletion-induced ATM protein deficiency impaired the ability to repair the damaged DNA. Because the absence of SMU1 results in IK degradation, the mechanism underlying IK degradation was exploited. IK was ubiquitinated in the absence of SMU1 and then subjected to proteolysis through the 26S proteasome. To prevent the proteolytic degradation of IK, a deubiquitinating enzyme, USP47, directly interacted with IK and stabilized it through deubiquitination. Collectively, our results suggest that IK is required for proper splicing of the ATM pre-mRNA and USP47 contributes toward the stabilization of IK.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hye In Ka
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, 04310 Korea
| | - Sunyi Lee
- Drug Evaluation Group, R&D Center CJ HealthCare, Icheon, 04551 Korea
| | - Sora Han
- Research Institute of Women’s Health, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, 04310 Korea
| | - Ae Lee Jeong
- New Drug Development Center, Osong Medical Innovation Foundation, Osong, 28160 Korea
| | - Ji Young Park
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, 04310 Korea
| | - Hyun Jeong Joo
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, 04310 Korea
| | - Su Jung Soh
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, 04310 Korea
| | - Doyeon Park
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, 04310 Korea
| | - Young Yang
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, 04310 Korea
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4
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Lu Y, Kweon SS, Cai Q, Tanikawa C, Shu XO, Jia WH, Xiang YB, Huyghe JR, Harrison TA, Kim J, Shin A, Kim DH, Matsuo K, Jee SH, Guo X, Wen W, Shi J, Li B, Wang N, Shin MH, Li HL, Ren Z, Oh JH, Oze I, Ahn YO, Jung KJ, Gao J, Gao YT, Pan ZZ, Kamatani Y, Chan AT, Gsur A, Hampe J, Le Marchand L, Li L, Lindblom A, Moreno V, Newcomb PA, Offit K, Pharoah PDP, van Duijnhoven FJB, Van Guelpen B, Vodicka P, Weinstein SJ, Wolk A, Wu AH, Hsu L, Zeng YX, Long J, Peters U, Matsuda K, Zheng W. Identification of Novel Loci and New Risk Variant in Known Loci for Colorectal Cancer Risk in East Asians. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020; 29:477-486. [PMID: 31826910 PMCID: PMC7571256 DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.epi-19-0755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2019] [Revised: 09/30/2019] [Accepted: 12/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Risk variants identified so far for colorectal cancer explain only a small proportion of familial risk of this cancer, particularly in Asians. METHODS We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of colorectal cancer in East Asians, including 23,572 colorectal cancer cases and 48,700 controls. To identify novel risk loci, we selected 60 promising risk variants for replication using data from 58,131 colorectal cancer cases and 67,347 controls of European descent. To identify additional risk variants in known colorectal cancer loci, we performed conditional analyses in East Asians. RESULTS An indel variant, rs67052019 at 1p13.3, was found to be associated with colorectal cancer risk at P = 3.9 × 10-8 in Asians (OR per allele deletion = 1.13, 95% confidence interval = 1.08-1.18). This association was replicated in European descendants using a variant (rs2938616) in complete linkage disequilibrium with rs67052019 (P = 7.7 × 10-3). Of the remaining 59 variants, 12 showed an association at P < 0.05 in the European-ancestry study, including rs11108175 and rs9634162 at P < 5 × 10-8 and two variants with an association near the genome-wide significance level (rs60911071, P = 5.8 × 10-8; rs62558833, P = 7.5 × 10-8) in the combined analyses of Asian- and European-ancestry data. In addition, using data from East Asians, we identified 13 new risk variants at 11 loci reported from previous GWAS. CONCLUSIONS In this large GWAS, we identified three novel risk loci and two highly suggestive loci for colorectal cancer risk and provided evidence for potential roles of multiple genes and pathways in the etiology of colorectal cancer. In addition, we showed that additional risk variants exist in many colorectal cancer risk loci identified previously. IMPACT Our study provides novel data to improve the understanding of the genetic basis for colorectal cancer risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingchang Lu
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Sun-Seog Kweon
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, South Korea
- Jeonnam Regional Cancer Center, Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Hwasun, South Korea
| | - Qiuyin Cai
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Chizu Tanikawa
- Laboratory of Genome Technology, Human Genome Center, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Xiao-Ou Shu
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Wei-Hua Jia
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yong-Bing Xiang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogene and Related Genes & Department of Epidemiology, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Jeroen R Huyghe
- Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington
| | - Tabitha A Harrison
- Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington
| | - Jeongseon Kim
- Department of Cancer Biomedical Science, Graduate School of Cancer Science and Policy, National Cancer Center, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - Aesun Shin
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Cancer Research Institute, Seoul, Korea
| | - Dong-Hyun Kim
- Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Okcheon-dong, Korea
| | - Keitaro Matsuo
- Division of Molecular and Clinical Epidemiology, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Nagoya, Japan
- Department of Epidemiology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
| | - Sun Ha Jee
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Xingyi Guo
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Wanqing Wen
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Jiajun Shi
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Bingshan Li
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Nan Wang
- General Surgery Department, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Min-Ho Shin
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, South Korea
| | - Hong-Lan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogene and Related Genes & Department of Epidemiology, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Zefang Ren
- School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jae Hwan Oh
- Center for Colorectal Cancer, National Cancer Center Hospital, National Cancer Center, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - Isao Oze
- Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Okcheon-dong, Korea
| | - Yoon-Ok Ahn
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Keum Ji Jung
- Institute for Health Promotion, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Jing Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogene and Related Genes & Department of Epidemiology, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yu-Tang Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogene and Related Genes & Department of Epidemiology, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhi-Zhong Pan
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yoichiro Kamatani
- Laboratory for Statistical Analysis, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Kanagawa, Japan
- Kyoto-McGill International Collaborative School in Genomic Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Andrew T Chan
- Division of Gastroenterology, and Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Department of Epidemiology, and Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Andrea Gsur
- Institute of Cancer Research, Department of Medicine I, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Jochen Hampe
- Department of Medicine I, University Hospital Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden), Dresden, Germany
| | | | - Li Li
- Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
| | - Annika Lindblom
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Victor Moreno
- Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology-IDIBELL, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Polly A Newcomb
- Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington
- School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
| | - Kenneth Offit
- Clinical Genetics Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
- Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York
| | - Paul D P Pharoah
- Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | | | - Bethany Van Guelpen
- Department of Radiation Sciences, Oncology Unit, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Pavel Vodicka
- Department of Molecular Biology of Cancer, Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
- Institute of Biology and Medical Genetics, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Center in Pilsen, Charles University, Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Stephanie J Weinstein
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Alicja Wolk
- Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Anna H Wu
- University of Southern California, Preventative Medicine, Los Angeles, California
| | - Li Hsu
- Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
| | - Yi-Xin Zeng
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jirong Long
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Ulrike Peters
- Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington
- Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
| | - Koichi Matsuda
- Laboratory of Clinical Genome Sequencing, Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Wei Zheng
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee.
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5
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Keiper S, Papasaikas P, Will CL, Valcárcel J, Girard C, Lührmann R. Smu1 and RED are required for activation of spliceosomal B complexes assembled on short introns. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3639. [PMID: 31409787 PMCID: PMC6692369 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11293-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2018] [Accepted: 07/01/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Human pre-catalytic spliceosomes contain several proteins that associate transiently just prior to spliceosome activation and are absent in yeast, suggesting that this critical step is more complex in higher eukaryotes. We demonstrate via RNAi coupled with RNA-Seq that two of these human-specific proteins, Smu1 and RED, function both as alternative splicing regulators and as general splicing factors and are required predominantly for efficient splicing of short introns. In vitro splicing assays reveal that Smu1 and RED promote spliceosome activation, and are essential for this step when the distance between the pre-mRNA’s 5′ splice site (SS) and branch site (BS) is sufficiently short. This Smu1-RED requirement can be bypassed when the 5′ and 3′ regions of short introns are physically separated. Our observations suggest that Smu1 and RED relieve physical constraints arising from a short 5′SS-BS distance, thereby enabling spliceosomes to overcome structural challenges associated with the splicing of short introns. Human spliceosome components Smu1 and RED regulate alternative splicing. Here the authors show that Smu1 and RED are also required for constitutive splicing of short introns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Keiper
- Department of Cellular Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Am Fassberg 11, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Panagiotis Papasaikas
- Centre de Regulació Genòmica, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology and Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.,Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI), Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland.,Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Cindy L Will
- Department of Cellular Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Am Fassberg 11, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Juan Valcárcel
- Centre de Regulació Genòmica, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology and Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.,Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Pg. Lluís Companys, 08010, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Cyrille Girard
- Department of Cellular Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Am Fassberg 11, 37077, Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Reinhard Lührmann
- Department of Cellular Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Am Fassberg 11, 37077, Göttingen, Germany.
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Pertesi M, Ekdahl L, Palm A, Johnsson E, Järvstråt L, Wihlborg AK, Nilsson B. Essential genes shape cancer genomes through linear limitation of homozygous deletions. Commun Biol 2019; 2:262. [PMID: 31341961 PMCID: PMC6642121 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-019-0517-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2018] [Accepted: 06/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The landscape of somatic acquired deletions in cancer cells is shaped by positive and negative selection. Recurrent deletions typically target tumor suppressor, leading to positive selection. Simultaneously, loss of a nearby essential gene can lead to negative selection, and introduce latent vulnerabilities specific to cancer cells. Here we show that, under basic assumptions on positive and negative selection, deletion limitation gives rise to a statistical pattern where the frequency of homozygous deletions decreases approximately linearly between the deletion target gene and the nearest essential genes. Using DNA copy number data from 9,744 human cancer specimens, we demonstrate that linear deletion limitation exists and exposes deletion-limiting genes for seven known deletion targets (CDKN2A, RB1, PTEN, MAP2K4, NF1, SMAD4, and LINC00290). Downstream analysis of pooled CRISPR/Cas9 data provide further evidence of essentiality. Our results provide further insight into how the deletion landscape is shaped and identify potentially targetable vulnerabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maroulio Pertesi
- Hematology and Transfusion Medicine Department of Laboratory Medicine, BMC, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden
| | - Ludvig Ekdahl
- Hematology and Transfusion Medicine Department of Laboratory Medicine, BMC, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden
| | - Angelica Palm
- Hematology and Transfusion Medicine Department of Laboratory Medicine, BMC, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden
| | - Ellinor Johnsson
- Hematology and Transfusion Medicine Department of Laboratory Medicine, BMC, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden
| | - Linnea Järvstråt
- Hematology and Transfusion Medicine Department of Laboratory Medicine, BMC, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden
| | - Anna-Karin Wihlborg
- Hematology and Transfusion Medicine Department of Laboratory Medicine, BMC, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden
| | - Björn Nilsson
- Hematology and Transfusion Medicine Department of Laboratory Medicine, BMC, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden
- Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142 USA
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Role of Epithelial-Mesenchyme Transition in Chlamydia Pathogenesis. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0145198. [PMID: 26681200 PMCID: PMC4683008 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2015] [Accepted: 12/01/2015] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis genital infection in women causes serious adverse reproductive complications, and is a strong co-factor for human papilloma virus (HPV)-associated cervical epithelial carcinoma. We tested the hypothesis that Chlamydia induces epithelial-mesenchyme transition (EMT) involving T cell-derived TNF-alpha signaling, caspase activation, cleavage inactivation of dicer and dysregulation of micro-RNA (miRNA) in the reproductive epithelium; the pathologic process of EMT causes fibrosis and fertility-related epithelial dysfunction, and also provides the co-factor function for HPV-related cervical epithelial carcinoma. Using a combination of microarrays, immunohistochemistry and proteomics, we showed that chlamydia altered the expression of crucial miRNAs that control EMT, fibrosis and tumorigenesis; specifically, miR-15a, miR-29b, miR-382 and MiR-429 that maintain epithelial integrity were down-regulated, while miR-9, mi-R-19a, miR-22 and miR-205 that promote EMT, fibrosis and tumorigenesis were up-regulated. Chlamydia induced EMT in vitro and in vivo, marked by the suppression of normal epithelial cell markers especially E-cadherin but up-regulation of mesenchymal markers of pathological EMT, including T-cadherin, MMP9, and fibronectin. Also, Chlamydia upregulated pro-EMT regulators, including the zinc finger E-box binding homeobox protein, ZEB1, Snail1/2, and thrombospondin1 (Thbs1), but down-regulated anti-EMT and fertility promoting proteins (i.e., the major gap junction protein connexin 43 (Cx43), Mets1, Add1Scarb1 and MARCKSL1). T cell-derived TNF-alpha signaling was required for chlamydial-induced infertility and caspase inhibitors prevented both infertility and EMT. Thus, chlamydial-induced T cell-derived TNF-alpha activated caspases that inactivated dicer, causing alteration in the expression of reproductive epithelial miRNAs and induction of EMT. EMT causes epithelial malfunction, fibrosis, infertility, and the enhancement of tumorigenesis of HPV oncogene-transformed epithelial cells. These findings provide a novel understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of chlamydia-associated diseases, which may guide a rational prevention strategy.
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