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- Title
Epigenetic and Gene Expression Analysis of Host Susceptibility Genes for Chlamydia trachomatis Infection.
- Authors
Bennett, Katie M.; Burns, Christopher; Dailey, Danielle; Chavez, Jorge; Jou, Cliff; Smith, Andrew; Torres, Vanessa
- Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis is a common sexually transmitted infection that can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and tubal infertility. There are many differences between patients in the persistence and progression of infection, believed to be influenced by the genetics of the host. The goal of this study is to examine the genetic and epigenetic characteristics of host susceptibility genes for C. trachomatis infection. Human gene products such as protein disulfide isomerases have been shown to play a role in the intracellular C. trachomatis life cycle. Our previous studies show a correlation between host polymorphisms in the isomerase PDIA2 and C. trachomatis infection. In the current study, an epigenetic profile of PDIA2 was examined in HeLa human cervical epithelial cells. DNA methylation was quantified for two CpG islands in the PDIA2 gene using pyrosequencing. The methylation profile for HeLa PDIA2 differed significantly from the control (fully methylated DNA) for 4 out of 10 loci (p<0.05), with an average percent methylation of 47% (+/- 10.8%). Lowered methylation may indicate that PDIA2 is transcriptional active, so we examined gene expression of PDIA2 and a related isomerase family member, P4HB. Reverse-transcriptase qPCR was performed to quantify relative mRNA expression of the isomerase genes in HeLa cells. PDIA2 showed detectable but very low mRNA expression in HeLa, while in contrast, P4HB exhibited extremely high relative expression (5E+4-fold higher as compared to PDIA2). After treatment with 0.5ug of Chlamydial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 48 hours, the expression of PDIA2 was significantly (p<0.01) decreased from untreated control to 0.609-fold (0.52-0.71). In contrast, P4HB expression was significantly (p<0.01) increased from untreated control to 3.78-fold (3.50-4.09). These results provide evidence that these host genes may be transcriptionally regulated by exposure to C. trachomatis. Future studies include epigenetic characterization of P4HB and PDIA2 in C. trachomatis-positive patient specimens.
- Publication
Clinical Laboratory Science, 2016, Vol 29, Issue 3, p150
- ISSN
0894-959X
- Publication type
Academic Journal