Galectins are involved in infection the pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis

LEIVA N; RABINOVICH G; DAMIANI MT

Puerto Varas. Chile

Congreso; XII PABMB Congress together with the XLIX Annual Meeting of Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (SAIB).; 2013

SAIB-PABMB

Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium that modulates relevant eukaryotic processes as an adaptive strategy. Pathogenicity of Chlamydia can be partially explained by an altered immune response. Galectins are a family of highly conserved proteins in evolution, with a carbohydrate recognition domain with affinity for beta-galactosides (Gal b-NAcGlc 1-4), that have an active role in immunity, inflammation and cancer. We propose to investigate whether glycans and galectins are involved in Chlamydia-host cell interaction. In infected cells, expression of Galectin-1 increases. By confocal microscopy, we observe an intracellular redistribution of Galectin-1 and its recruitment to the chlamydial inclusion at some stages of development.  These proteins might play a role in establishing infection and intracellular persistence of Chlamydia.