AUTHOR=Su Wenhao , Chen Yongyu , Cao Pan , Chen Yan , Guo Yuanmei , Wang Siwei , Dong Weiguo 

TITLE=Fusobacterium nucleatum Promotes the Development of Ulcerative Colitis by Inducing the Autophagic Cell Death of Intestinal Epithelial

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2020.594806

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2020.594806

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=There is a growing body of evidence suggests that intestinal microbiota, especially Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum), are associated with intestinal immune disease such as ulcerative colitis (UC). The mechanism by which F. nucleatum promote intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) death remained undefined. Here, we investigated the potential mechanisms about how F. nucleatum aggravate IEC death in UC. We first detected the abundance of F. nucleatum in UC tissues and analyzed its relationship with the clinical characteristics of UC. Next, we explored whether F. nucleatum promote intestinal epithelial cell death in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we extracted lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of the F. nucleatum and examined whether F. nucleatum exacerbate UC via LPS. Our results indicated that F. nucleatum was abundant in UC tissues and was correlated with clinical characteristics. In addition, we demonstrated that F. nucleatum and its LPS aggravated IEC death by promoted IEC autophagy. Furthermore, chloroquine (CQ) prevented IEC death mediated by F. nucleatum, which suggests F. nucleatum may contribute to UC by activating autophagic cell death. All our results uncover a vital role of F. nucleatum in autophagic cell death and UC, giving rise to a new sight for UC therapy by inhibiting excessive IEC autophagy and autophagic cell death.