Infection with enteric pathogens Salmonella typhimurium and Citrobacter rodentium modulate TGF-beta/Smad signaling pathways in the intestine.

Salmonella and Citrobacter are gram negative, members of Enterobacteriaceae family that are important causative agents of diarrhea and intestinal inflammation. TGF-β1 is a pleiotropic multifunctional cytokine that has been implicated in modulating the severity of microbial infections. How these pathogens alter the TGF-β1 signaling pathways in the intestine is largely unknown. Streptomycin-pretreated C57BL/6J mouse model colonized with S. typhimurium for 8 hours (acute) and 4 days (chronic) infection and FVB/N mice infected with C. rodentium for 6 days were utilized. Results demonstrated an increase in TGF-β1 receptor I expression (p<0.05) in S. typhimurium infected mouse ileum at both acute and chronic post-infection vs control. This was associated with activation of Smad pathways as evidenced by increased phosphorylated (p)-Smad2 and p-Smad3 levels in the nucleus. The inhibitory Smad7 mRNA levels showed a significant up regulation during acute phase of Salmonella infection but no change at 4d post-infection. In contrast to Salmonella, infection with Citrobacter caused drastic downregulation of TGF receptor I and II concomitant with a decrease in levels of Smad 2, 3, 4 and 7 expression in the mouse colon. We speculate that increased TGF-β1 signaling in response to Salmonella may be a host compensatory response to promote mucosal healing; while C. rodentium decreases TGF-β1 signaling pathways to promote inflammation and contribute to disease pathogenesis. These findings increase our understanding of how enteric pathogens subvert specific aspects of the host-cellular pathways to cause disease.