매독균이 혈관 내피세포 표면 유착 분자 발현에 미치는 영향

Abstract

Syphilis is a chronic, systemic, sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochetal bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum(T. pallidum). Histopathologically, perivasculitis and endothelial cell abnormalities are observed. In inflammatory and immune reactions, vascular endothelial cells act as key effectors. In such reactions the binding of leukocytes to endothelial cells is governed by the expression of cell adhesion molecules such as intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1(ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1(VCAM-1) and E-selectin. Their expressions are regulated by biological response modifiers. The purpose of the present study is to observe the changes of the expression of ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and E-selectin on human dermal microvascular endothelial cells(HDMEC) following incubation with either virulent T. pallidum or non-pathogenic treponemes. The immunofluorescence flow cytometry and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were used to check the expression of adhsion molecules on HDMEC. The expression of ICAM-1 on HDMEC was increased significantly after stimulation with virulent T. pallidum and the expression of VCAM-1 and E-selectin were also induced. These expressions were increased in a dose dependent manner with increasing cell number of T. pallidum. But we did not find any difference of expressions of adhesion melecules after stimulation with non-pathogenic treponemes such as T. phagedenis, T. refringens and T. denticola or heat-inactivated T. pallidum. These data suggest that virulent T. pallidum is capable of stimulating HDMEC to increase the expression of ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin on membranes and this process may play an important role in the immunopathogenesis of syphilis.