Reinforcement of epithelial cell adhesion to basement membrane by a bacterial pathogen as a new infectious stratagem

The intestinal epithelium undergoes a rapid turnover in addition to rapid exfoliation in response to bacterial infection, thus acting as an intrinsic defense against microbial intruders. It has long been questioned how mucosal pathogens can circumvent the intestinal defense systems. Our recent discovery of a bacterial ploy used by Shigella provided us with fresh insight. Shigella delivers OspE via the type III secretion system during multiplication within epithelial cells. This effector protein reinforces epithelial adherence to the basement membrane by interacting with integrin-linked kinase (ILK), a unique intracellular Ser/Thr kinase that links the cell-adhesion receptors, integrin, and growth factors to the actin cytoskeleton. The interaction between OspE and ILK increased formation of focal adhesions (FAs) and surface levels of b1-integrin, while suppressing phosphorylation of FAK and paxillin, thus suppressing rapid turnover of FAs, reducing cell motility and promoting cell adhesion to extracellular matrix. The impact of this OspE-ILK interplay was demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo by infecting polarized epithelial cell monolayers and guinea pig colons with Shigella possessing or lacking the ospE gene. The findings thus establish a new class of virulence-associated factors, and provide new insight into the functioning of the intestinal barrier and bacterial strategies for circumventing it.