AUTHOR=Li Qian , Wang Hongyan , Tan Lisi , Zhang Shuwei , Lin Li , Tang Xiaolin , Pan Yaping 

TITLE=Oral Pathogen Fusobacterium nucleatum Coaggregates With Pseudomonas aeruginosa to Modulate the Inflammatory Cytotoxicity of Pulmonary Epithelial Cells

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.643913

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2021.643913

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=<p>Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of mortality worldwide, and inflammatory damage induced by bacterial infections is an important contributor to the etiology of COPD. <italic>Fusobacterium nucleatum</italic>, a recognized periodontal pathogen, is considered as a biomarker of lung function deterioration of COPD patients coinfected with <italic>Pseudomonas aerugionsa</italic>, but the underlying mechanism is still unclear. This study established single- and dual-species infection models, bacterial simultaneous and sequential infection models, and found that <italic>F. nucleatum</italic> could coaggregate with <italic>P. aeruginosa</italic> to synergistically invade into pulmonary epithelial cells and transiently resist <italic>P. aeruginosa</italic>-induced cytotoxic damage to amplify IL-6 and TNF-α associated inflammation in pulmonary epithelial cells simultaneously infected with <italic>P. aeruginosa</italic> and <italic>F. nucleatum</italic>. Furthermore, <italic>F. nucleatum</italic> pretreatment or subsequential infection could maintain or even aggravate <italic>P. aeruginosa</italic>-induced inflammatory cytotoxicity of pulmonary epithelial cells. These results indicate that oral pathogen <italic>F. nucleatum</italic> coaggregates with <italic>P. aeruginosa</italic> to facilitate bacterial invasion and modulates the inflammatory cytotoxicity of pulmonary epithelial cells, which may contribute to lung function deterioration of COPD patients accompanied with <italic>P. aeruginosa</italic> and <italic>F. nucleatum</italic> coinfection.</p>