Novel role for androgen signaling in pyelonephritis

Sex differences in urinary tract infection (UTI) susceptibility and severity are known, but have historically focused on anatomic differences between males and females. Until recently, experimental UTI has been limited to female animals due to ease of transurethral bladder catheterization. Olson and colleagues have developed a model of experimental UTI independent of sex that relies on direct bladder inoculation and thus permits investigation of sex differences in UTI susceptibility. They now build upon their prior work in this model by implicating androgens as drivers of tubular invasion by uropathogenic Escherichia coli, which form luminal bacterial communities preceding renal abscess formation.