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Inhibition of mycobacterial infection by the tumor suppressor PTEN

Guochang Huang1, Gil Redelman-Sidi, Neal Rosen

  • 1Cell Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA.

The Journal of Biological Chemistry
|May 23, 2012
PubMed

Insights

The tumor suppressor PTEN regulates cellular infection susceptibility. PTEN deficiency increases susceptibility to mycobacterial pathogens, while inhibiting related signaling pathways like PI3K-Akt-mTOR can reduce infection levels.

Area of Science:

  • Cellular Biology
  • Cancer Biology
  • Infectious Disease

Background:

  • The tumor suppressor PTEN is crucial in cancer, primarily by inhibiting the PI3K-Akt pathway.
  • PTEN's role in cellular functions beyond tumor suppression, particularly in infection resistance, is not well understood.
  • The interplay between cancer-related signaling pathways and susceptibility to pathogens remains an area needing definition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of PTEN signaling in regulating cellular susceptibility to mycobacterial infections.
  • To determine if pharmacological modulation of PTEN signaling affects mycobacterial infection levels.
  • To explore the connection between the PTEN-PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway and intracellular pathogen load.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed PTEN's impact on infection susceptibility in various cell types (noncancerous and cancerous).
  • Utilized pharmacological inhibitors targeting PI3K, Akt, and mTOR pathways.
  • Quantified intracellular mycobacterial loads (Mycoplasma and Mycobacterium bovis BCG).

Main Results:

  • PTEN deficiency significantly increased cellular susceptibility to Mycoplasma and Mycobacterium bovis BCG infections.
  • The lipid phosphatase activity of PTEN was essential for its infection-attenuating function.
  • Mycobacterial infection induced Akt phosphorylation, and inhibiting PI3K or Akt reduced intracellular infection.
  • Inhibition of mTOR also decreased intracellular Mycobacterium bovis BCG levels in cancer cells.

Conclusions:

  • PTEN signaling plays a critical role in modulating cellular defense against mycobacterial pathogens.
  • The PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway is a key mediator of PTEN's influence on infection susceptibility.
  • Genetic alterations in PTEN within cancer cells may impact their interaction with mycobacterial infections.

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