Early response of epithelial cells to Eimeria tenella infection
Résumé
Eimeria tenella infection is associated with a severe intestinal disease leading to high economic impact in poultry industry. The cost of vaccine and the emergence of anticoccidial drug resistances highlight the need of alternative strategies. For this purpose, the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the development of the disease at the earliest time of the infection is needed. Our objective is to determine the early epithelial cell response to Eimeria infection. We developed an in vitro model of mouse intestinal epithelial cells (mICcL2) infected with Eimeria tenella on which a RNA sequencing study was performed. Based on a cut-off of >2 fold differential expression compared with the uninfected cells, early infection (1-4h) with Eimeria tenella leaded to less than <1% changes in gene expression. Out of 76 genes whose expressions were modified 1h pi, 25 were upregulated, in contrast to 58 out of 78 4h pi. Transcription factor genes and genes related to the immune response were highly upregulated 1h pi whereas transcription factor and immune response genes but also genes encoding for cytoskeletal and adhesion molecules were upregulated 4h pi. Interestingly, the expression of the transcription factors fosB and c-fos was the most induced by the infection (30 and 19 fold after 1h). The Fos family transcription factors is implicated in many cellular functions such as cell cycle, differentiation and immune response and is upregulated in different models of infection. The role of cFos in an Eimeria infection of epithelial cells will be investigated using a siRNA approach.