a model to study C. pneumoniae infection

What is it about?

Chlamydia pneumoniae is a human pathogen that disseminates from the respiratory tract to other body sites via white blood cells. In experimental settings, the C. pneumoniae infection in white blood cells is studied by infecting the cells with isolated bacteria. However, this does not represent the process occurring in the human body, as the cells there engulf the bacteria as membrane-bound structures rather than as individual cells. In this paper, we describe a system to mimic the white blood cell infection in a laboratory setting.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

In white blood cells, Chlamydia pneumoniae causes a persistent infection which is very difficult to eradicate with existing antibiotics. New models are needed to study this process in detail, as well as to develop therapeutic agents that could improve the eradication of the persistent infection.