Chronische mycoplasma-infekties

(met name infekties met M. fermentans, M. homins, M. penetrans en M. arginini

worden door onderzoekers in verband gebracht met longkanker.

Dit zou (mede) bewerkstelligt worden door de aanmaak van BMP2,

waardoor ongekontroleerde groei van tumorcellen in de longen zou kunnen ontstaan.

En de Gezondheidsraad beweerde toch dat het onschuldige mikro-organismen waren?

(klik hier voor meer informatie)

UMDNJ Research Team Discovers that an Infectious Agent May Impact Lung Cancer

UMDNJ Home > About > News/Events > News

Press Release

Date: 02-20-09

Name: Terri Guess

Phone: 973-972-3000

NEWARK

A previously unknown effect of an infectious agent relevant to the prevention and/or treatment of lung cancer has been discovered by a UMDNJ research team led by Melissa Rogers, Ph.D., professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.

The infectious agent, mycoplasma bacterium, induces the synthesis of an important growth factor, BMP2, in lung cells. After enough time, mycoplasma can convert normal lung cells into cells that form tumors. BMP2 may accelerate this process. With the help of a two-year grant for $120,000 from the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research and a Team Science Initiative Grant from UMDNJ, Dr. Rogers and her collaborator, Dr. John Langenfeld of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, areworking to understand the relationship between bacterial infection and BMP2 in lung tumors.

The relevance of this study stems from the fact that mycoplasma is a curable bacteria. "If we think mycoplasma is promoting tumors, especially in lung cancer, then we should be curing it." said Rogers. "Even though doctors don’t normally look at mycoplasma as a pathogen, it may be a tumor promoter.

"Our linkage of mycoplasma infection to BMP2 induction suggests that anti-mycoplasma treatment may benefit lung cancer patients," said Rogers. "Furthermore, understanding how BMP2, a potent regulator of cell behavior is regulated in normal and transformed lung cells may identify novel chemotherapy approaches."

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the country. Research indicates more people will die from lung cancer than breast, colon, and prostate cancer combined.

Rogers believes this study will lay the groundwork for examining whether high risk patients should be screened and treated for mycoplasma infections to prevent lung cancer and whether lung cancer patients should be treated with antibiotics to eradicate mycoplasma infection.

http://www.umdnj.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/quinnaj/

newsroom.cgi?month=02&day=20&year=09

&headline=UMDNJ+Research+Team+Discovers+that+an+Infectious+

Agent+May+Impact+Lung+Cancer

Mycoplasma infection transforms normal lung cells and induces bone morphogenetic protein 2 expression by post-transcriptional mechanisms.

J Cell Biochem. 2008 May 15;104(2):580-94.

Jiang S, Zhang S, Langenfeld J, Lo SC, Rogers MB.

Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2)

is an essential growth factor and morphogen,

whose pattern and level of expression

profoundly influences development and physiology.

We present the novel finding that

mycoplasma infection induces BMP2 RNA production

in six cell lines of diverse types (mesenchymal, epithelial, and myeloid).

Mycoplasma infection triggered

the expression of mature secreted BMP2 protein in BEAS-2B cells

(immortalized human bronchial epithelial cells),

which normally do not express BMP2, and

further increased BMP2 production

in A549 cells (lung adenocarcinoma cells).

Indeed,

mycoplasma is as strong an experimental inducer

as inflammatory cytokines and retinoic acid.

Second,

we showed that post-transcriptional mechanisms

including regulation of RNA stability,

rather than transcriptional mechanisms,

contributed to the increased BMP2 expression

in mycoplasma-infected cells.

Furthermore, a novel G-rich oligonucleotide, AS1411

that binds the post-transcriptional regulator nucleolin induced BMP2 exclusively

in infected cells.

Finally, BMP2 stimulated proliferation in BEAS-2B cells

transformed by chronic mycoplasma infection,

as demonstrated by treatment with Noggin, a BMP2 antagonist.

These findings have important implications regarding

the effects of mycoplasma on BMP2-regulated processes,

including cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis.

PMID: 18059017 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]