ESTROGENS MODULATES THE EXPRESSION OF RABS PROTEINS IN ENDOMETRIAL CELLS INFECTED WITH CHLAMYDIA TRACHOMATIS

LEIVA NATALIA; NOLLY MARIELA; SANCHEZ DIEGO; DAMIANI MARIA TERESA

Mendoza

Jornada; Jornadas Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; 2019

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are highly prevalent pathologies. There are more than 30 bacteria, viruses and parasites that can cause sexually transmitted infections. Among them, Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is the most frequent causative agent of STD in the world. It is an obligate intracelular.Gram-negative bacterium that multiplies into a single non-acidic, non-degrative vacuole, called inclusion. This bacterium prevents degradation in the phagolysosome pathway and, at the same time, sequesters the biosynthetic route to obtain nutrients from the host cell. CT disrupts vesicular transport by hijacking certain host traffic controllers, such as Rab proteins. In addition, chlamydial infections mainly affect women of reproductive age. Therefore, sex hormones may play a role in the course of CT infection. At this time, it is unknown whether estrogen could regulate the expression and / or function of the Rab protein and its effectors in CT -infected cells. We analyzed whether the expression and / or localization of Rab11, 14 and its interacting FIP2 protein could be affected by sex hormones in CT -infected cells, using advanced confocal microscopy , Western blotting and real-time PCR techniques, we observed that the presence of estrogen in cells infected with CT decreases the expression of both Rab14 and its effector FIP2. Our results show that the hormonal microenvironment affects the course of Chlamydia infection, Rab proteins and their effectors. These findings could open new scenarios that justify new therapeutic options for the treatment of chlamydial infections.