Sequential invasion of epithelial and immune cells in Shigellosis
- 1University of Virginia
Abstract
Shigella flexneri, the agent of shigellosis, invades the colonic mucosa, which leads to mucosal erosion, blood and immune cell infiltration, culminating in the hallmark of the disease, bloody diarrhea. Here, we conducted a microscopy-based analysis of time-resolved infection experiments in the infant rabbit model of shigellosis. We observed two stages of infection in the colonic tissue. During the early stage of infection, bacteria invaded and spread in epithelial cells, which correlated with mucosal erosion and blood infiltration. During the late stage of infection, the bacteria transitioned from their primary niche, the epithelial compartment, to their secondary niche, the lamina propria. Transcriptomic analysis of the late stage of infection assigned identities to various epithelial, immune, and stromal cells. The vast majority of the bacteria were associated with neutrophils or macrophages during the late stage of infection. We provide a discussion of how this model compares and contrasts with previous models of shigellosis.
Related
- The role of metabolic crosstalk between Intestinal epithelial cells and immune cells in inflammatory bowel disease and targeting strategies
- Regenerative epithelial spike cells instruct immune niche homeostasis in zebrafish fin epidermis
- The metabolic crossfire hypothesis: glycolytic crosstalk between immune and epithelial cells in ulcerative colitis pathogenesis
- Geometric coordination of endothelial invasion and vascular patterning during epithelial morphogenesis
- A Novel Bioengineering Approach to Breast Cancer Invasion In Vitro Through Enhancing the Value of Existing Breast Cancer Epithelial Lineages
BibTeX
@misc{jadeja2026sequential,
title = {{Sequential invasion of epithelial and immune cells in Shigellosis}},
author = {N. B. Jadeja and B. A. Devasure and L. K. Yum and H. F. Agaisse},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.11.751053},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.11.751053v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Sequential invasion of epithelial and immune cells in Shigellosis
AU - N. B. Jadeja
AU - B. A. Devasure
AU - L. K. Yum
AU - H. F. Agaisse
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/11
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.11.751053
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.11.751053v1
AB - Shigella flexneri, the agent of shigellosis, invades the colonic mucosa, which leads to mucosal erosion, blood and immune cell infiltration, culminating in the hallmark of the disease, bloody diarrhea. Here, we conducted a microscopy-based analysis of time-resolved infection experiments in the infant rabbit model of shigellosis. We observed two stages of infection in the colonic tissue. During the early stage of infection, bacteria invaded and spread in epithelial cells, which correlated with mucosal erosion and blood infiltration. During the late stage of infection, the bacteria transitioned from their primary niche, the epithelial compartment, to their secondary niche, the lamina propria. Transcriptomic analysis of the late stage of infection assigned identities to various epithelial, immune, and stromal cells. The vast majority of the bacteria were associated with neutrophils or macrophages during the late stage of infection. We provide a discussion of how this model compares and contrasts with previous models of shigellosis.
ER -