Armelle Ménard

Background The bacterial genotoxin, cytolethal distending toxin (CDT), causes DNA damage in host cells, a risk factor for carcinogenesis. Previous studies have shown that CDT induces phenotypes reminiscent of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process involved in cancer initiation and progression. Methods We investigated different steps of EMT in response to Helicobacter hepaticus CDT and its active CdtB subunit using in vivo and in vitro models. Results Most of the steps of the EMT process were induced by CDT/CdtB and observed throughout the study in murine and epithelial cell culture models. CdtB induced cell-cell junction disassembly, causing individualization of cells and acquisition of a spindle-like morphology. The key transcriptional regulators of EMT (SNAIL and ZEB1) and some EMT markers were upregulated at both RNA and protein levels in response to CDT/CdtB. CdtB increased the expression and proteolytic activity of matrix metalloproteinases, as well as cell migration. A range of these results were confirmed in Helicobacter hepaticus-infected and xenograft murine models. In addition, colibactin, a genotoxic metabolite produced by Escherichia coli, induced EMT-like effects in cell culture. Conclusions Overall, these data show that infection with genotoxin-producing bacteria elicits EMT process activation, supporting their role in tumorigenesis.