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Volume 11
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10.3390/pathogens11020217
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Article

In Vitro Analysis of Matched Isolates from Localized and Disseminated Gonococcal Infections Suggests That Opa Expression Impacts Clinical Outcome

by
Cheng-Tai Wu
1,†,
Po-Wei Huang
2,†,
Chia-Hsuan Lin
1,
Daniel C. Stein
3,
Wenxia Song
3,
Sung-Pin Tseng
4 and
Liang-Chun Wang
1,3,4,*,†
1
Department of Marine Biotechnology and Resources, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan
2
Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Zuoying Branch of Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung 813, Taiwan
3
Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, MD, USA
4
Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Pathogens 2022, 11(2), 217; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11020217
Submission received: 20 January 2022 / Revised: 4 February 2022 / Accepted: 5 February 2022 / Published: 7 February 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Focus on Cervicovaginal Health: Microbiome, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Beneficial Microbes)
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Abstract

Gonorrhea is the second most common sexually transmitted infection, which is primarily localized but can be disseminated systemically. The mechanisms by which a localized infection becomes a disseminated infection are unknown. We used five pairs of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates from the cervix/urethra (localized) and the blood (disseminated) of patients with disseminated gonococcal infection to examine the mechanisms that confine gonococci to the genital tract or enable them to disseminate to the blood. Multilocus sequence analysis found that the local and disseminated isolates from the same patients were isogenic. When culturing in vitro, disseminated isolates aggregated significantly less and transmigrated across a polarized epithelial monolayer more efficiently than localized isolates. While localized cervical isolates transmigrated across epithelial monolayers inefficiently, those transmigrated bacteria self-aggregated less and transmigrated more than cervical isolates but comparably to disseminating isolates. The local cervical isolates recruited the host receptors of gonococcal Opa proteins carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecules (CEACAMs) on epithelial cells. However, the transmigrated cervical isolate and the disseminated blood isolates recruit CEACAMs significantly less often. Our results collectively suggest that switching off the expression of CEACAM-binding Opa(s), which reduces self-aggregation, promotes gonococcal dissemination.
Keywords: Neisseria gonorrhoeae; aggregation; local infection; disseminated gonococcal disease; opacity protein; lipooligosaccharide; infection outcome Neisseria gonorrhoeae; aggregation; local infection; disseminated gonococcal disease; opacity protein; lipooligosaccharide; infection outcome

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MDPI and ACS Style

Wu, C.-T.; Huang, P.-W.; Lin, C.-H.; Stein, D.C.; Song, W.; Tseng, S.-P.; Wang, L.-C. In Vitro Analysis of Matched Isolates from Localized and Disseminated Gonococcal Infections Suggests That Opa Expression Impacts Clinical Outcome. Pathogens 2022, 11, 217. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11020217

AMA Style

Wu C-T, Huang P-W, Lin C-H, Stein DC, Song W, Tseng S-P, Wang L-C. In Vitro Analysis of Matched Isolates from Localized and Disseminated Gonococcal Infections Suggests That Opa Expression Impacts Clinical Outcome. Pathogens. 2022; 11(2):217. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11020217

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wu, Cheng-Tai, Po-Wei Huang, Chia-Hsuan Lin, Daniel C. Stein, Wenxia Song, Sung-Pin Tseng, and Liang-Chun Wang. 2022. "In Vitro Analysis of Matched Isolates from Localized and Disseminated Gonococcal Infections Suggests That Opa Expression Impacts Clinical Outcome" Pathogens 11, no. 2: 217. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11020217

APA Style

Wu, C.-T., Huang, P.-W., Lin, C.-H., Stein, D. C., Song, W., Tseng, S.-P., & Wang, L.-C. (2022). In Vitro Analysis of Matched Isolates from Localized and Disseminated Gonococcal Infections Suggests That Opa Expression Impacts Clinical Outcome. Pathogens, 11(2), 217. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11020217

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