{
  "abstract": "Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis, remains difficult to study owing to long-standing limitations in in vitro cultivation. Although a rabbit epithelial cell co-culture system (Sf1Ep) enabled major advances, the absence of human cell-based models limits clinical relevance and mechanistic understanding of host–pathogen interactions. Here, we established a co-culture system using human epithelial cell lines capable of supporting T. pallidum growth in vitro. Six epithelial or epithelial-like cell lines from diverse tissues were evaluated under microaerophilic conditions using standard cultivation medium. CAL-39 (vulva) and HepG2 (liver) supported T. pallidum survival, replication, characteristic growth behaviours, and long-term passage at levels comparable to Sf1Ep cells. Growth kinetics, attachment dynamics, and motility were quantified over extended culture. Using live-cell imaging, we defined two distinct host-cell interaction behaviours: surface-associated crawling and stable single-polar attachment. Both behaviours were observed across all tested cell lines but persisted only in those permissive for sustained growth. Together, our findings establish clinically relevant human epithelial co-culture models for T. pallidum, provide new insights into host-cell-dependent growth and motility, and create a platform for mechanistic studies of syphilis pathogenesis and vaccine target discovery.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK",
    "Department of Infectious Diseases, The University of Melbourne at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC Australia",
    "Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, University of Washington, Seattle, WA USA",
    "Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA USA",
    "London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Katia Capuccini"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Divenita Govender"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "David Goulding"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Cecilia Kyanya",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6293-5264"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Shivani Pasricha",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9681-1956"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Lorenzo Giacani",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3889-7274"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Nicholas R. Thomson",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4432-8505"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Linda Grillová",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2371-3161"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/d67k6y2cngxzw.bib",
  "cited_by": 1,
  "doi": "10.1038/s42003-026-10635-9",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13720188/",
  "id": "d67k6y2cngxzw",
  "issns": [
    "2399-3642"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10635-9",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2737|Syphilis Diagnosis and Treatment"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7167513599",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-026-10635-9_reference.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13720188",
  "pmid": "42410047",
  "published": "2026-07-07",
  "publisher": "Nature Publishing Group",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/d67k6y2cngxzw.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-02T12:24:01Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13720188",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10635-9"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2737|Syphilis Diagnosis and Treatment",
      "subfield": "physiology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A human epithelial co-culture system reveals distinct host cell interaction behaviours for Treponema pallidum",
  "title_text": "A human epithelial co-culture system reveals distinct host cell interaction behaviours for Treponema pallidum",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-03T12:21:07Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/d67k6y2cngxzw",
  "venue": "Communications Biology",
  "versions": []
}