VE-cadherin cleavage by LasB protease from Pseudomonas aeruginosa facilitates type III secretion system toxicity in endothelial cells

PLoS Pathog. 2014 Mar 13;10(3):e1003939. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003939. eCollection 2014 Mar.

Abstract

Infection of the vascular system by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) occurs during bacterial dissemination in the body or in blood-borne infections. Type 3 secretion system (T3SS) toxins from Pa induce a massive retraction when injected into endothelial cells. Here, we addressed the role of type 2 secretion system (T2SS) effectors in this process. Mutants with an inactive T2SS were much less effective than wild-type strains at inducing cell retraction. Furthermore, secretomes from wild-types were sufficient to trigger cell-cell junction opening when applied to cells, while T2SS-inactivated mutants had minimal activity. Intoxication was associated with decreased levels of vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin, a homophilic adhesive protein located at endothelial cell-cell junctions. During the process, the protein was cleaved in the middle of its extracellular domain (positions 335 and 349). VE-cadherin attrition was T3SS-independent but T2SS-dependent. Interestingly, the epithelial (E)-cadherin was unaffected by T2SS effectors, indicating that this mechanism is specific to endothelial cells. We showed that one of the T2SS effectors, the protease LasB, directly affected VE-cadherin proteolysis, hence promoting cell-cell junction disruption. Furthermore, mouse infection with Pa to induce acute pneumonia lead to significant decreases in lung VE-cadherin levels, whereas the decrease was minimal with T2SS-inactivated or LasB-deleted mutant strains. We conclude that the T2SS plays a pivotal role during Pa infection of the vascular system by breaching the endothelial barrier, and propose a model in which the T2SS and the T3SS cooperate to intoxicate endothelial cells.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antigens, CD / metabolism*
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Bacterial Secretion Systems / physiology*
  • Blotting, Western
  • Cadherins / metabolism*
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Endothelium, Vascular / metabolism
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Metalloendopeptidases / metabolism*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Pseudomonas Infections / metabolism*

Substances

  • Antigens, CD
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Bacterial Secretion Systems
  • Cadherins
  • cadherin 5
  • Metalloendopeptidases
  • pseudolysin, Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Joseph Fourier University. Part of this work was also supported by the Alliance pour les sciences de la VIE et de la SANté program in infectiology and FINOVI foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.