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| Interaction between uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) and host uroepithelial cells is the key step of the process of urinary tract infection. To further define the role uroepithelial cells play in initiating and modulating the host response to infection with UPEC strains, the human bladder transitional epithelial EJ cells were evaluated for their capacities to allow the adherence and invasion by UPEC132, a clinical strain isolated from China, and a cDNA microarray for 22 000 human genes was used to identify the gene expression differences between EJ cells infected with UPEC132 and uninfected EJ cells. Microscope observation showed that UPEC132 could adhere to EJ cells, and visualization by confocal microscope revealed that this invasive microorganism could be seen within the cells. EJ cells infected with UPEC132 significantly changed mRNA expression of a total of 29 genes, including 28 genes up-regulated and 1 gene down-regulated. Of these, regulators of growth and proliferation (e.g. immediate-early genes), cytokines (e.g. interleukin-6, interleukin-8), and modulators of apoptotic responses were the most prominent. In addition, the deduced signal transduction events based on bioinformatics analysis disclosed the complicated interaction between UPEC and host cells. |
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| Keywords:uropathogenic Escherichia coli;gene expression;bladder epithelial cell;cDNA microarray |
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