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Published Online June 11, 2009
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1173196

Reports

Submitted on March 6, 2009
Accepted on May 18, 2009

Meningococcal Type IV Pili Recruit the Polarity Complex to Cross the Brain Endothelium

Mathieu Coureuil 1*, Guillain Mikaty 1, Florence Miller 2, Hervé Lécuyer 3, Christine Bernard 1, Sandrine Bourdoulous 2, Guillaume Duménil 4, René-Marc Mège 5, Babette B. Weksler 6, Ignacio A. Romero 7, Pierre Olivier Couraud 2, Xavier Nassif 3

1 Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine, INSERM (U-570), Paris, France.
2 Institut Cochin, Université Paris Descartes, CNRS (UMR 8104), Paris, France.; INSERM, U567, Paris, France.
3 Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine, INSERM (U-570), Paris, France.; AP-HP, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades, Paris, F-75015, France.
4 Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine, INSERM (U-570), Paris, France.; Present address: INSERM U970, Paris Cardiovascular Research Center, Paris, F-75015, France
5 INSERM UMR-S 839, Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris6, Institut du Fer à Moulin, Paris, France.
6 Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA.
7 Department of Life Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Mathieu Coureuil , E-mail: mathieu.coureuil{at}inserm.fr

Type IV pili mediate the initial interaction of many bacterial pathogens with their host cells. In Neisseria meningitidis, the causative agent of cerebrospinal meningitis, type IV pili-mediated adhesion to brain endothelial cells is required for bacteria to cross the blood-brain barrier. Here, Type IV pili-mediated adhesion of N. meningitidis to human brain endothelial cells was found to recruit the Par3/Par6/PKC{zeta} polarity complex that plays a pivotal role in the establishment of eukaryotic cell polarity and the formation of intercellular junctions. This recruitment leads to the formation of ectopic intercellular junctional domains at the site of bacterial-cell interaction and a subsequent depletion of junctional proteins at the cell-cell interface with opening of the intercellular junctions of the brain-endothelial interface.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Immortalized Human Brain Endothelial Cell Line HCMEC/D3 as a Model of the Blood-Brain Barrier Facilitates In Vitro Studies of Central Nervous System Infection by Cryptococcus neoformans.
K. Vu, B. Weksler, I. Romero, P.-O. Couraud, and A. Gelli (2009)
Eukaryot. Cell 8, 1803-1807
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)