Ureaplasma parvum infection induces inflammatory changes in vaginal epithelial cells independent of sialidase

Emmanuel Amabebe, Lauren S. Richardson, Giovana Fernanda Cosi Bento, Enkhtuya Radnaa, Talar Kechichian, Ramkumar Menon, Dilly OC Anumba
2022 · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-2041882/v1
preprint OA: closed CC-BY-4.0
📄 Open PDF View at publisher

Abstract

Abstract Background Ureaplasma, a subspecies of genital Mycoplasma is one of the most common microbes isolated from women with infection/inflammation-associated preterm labor (PTL). Mycoplasma spp. produce sialidase that cleaves sialic acid from glycans of vaginal mucous membranes and facilitates adherence and invasion of the epithelium by pathobionts, and dysregulated immune response. However, whether Ureaplasma species can induce the production of sialidase is yet to be demonstrated. We examined U. parvum-infected vaginal epithelial cells (VECs) for the production of sialidase and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Methods Immortalized VECs were cultured in appropriate media and treated with U. parvum in a concentration of 1 x 105 DNA copies/ml. After 24 hours of treatment, cells and media were harvested. To confirm infection and cell uptake, immunocytochemistry for multi-banded antigen (MBA) was performed. Pro-inflammatory cytokine production and protein analysis for sialidase confirmed pro-labor pathways. Results Infection of VECs was confirmed by the presence of intracellular MBA. Western blot analysis showed no significant increase in sialidase expression from U. parvum-treated VECs compared to uninfected cells. However, U. parvum infection induced increased production of GM-CSF, IL-6, and IL-8 in VECs compared to controls. Conclusions U. parvum infection of VECs induced inflammatory imbalance associated with vaginal dysbiosis but did not alter sialidase expression at the cellular level. These data suggest that U. parvum’s pathogenic effect could be propagated by locally produced pro-inflammatory cytokines and, unlike other genital mycoplasmas, may be independent of sialidase.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Citation neighborhood (no data yet)

We don't have any in-corpus citations linked to this paper yet. The paper's references may be in our DB but unresolved to ``paper_id`` (resolution happens at ingest when the cited DOI matches a row we already have). Run the cross-source citation reconcile pass to retry.

References (40)

Source provenance

crossref
last seen: 2026-05-28T01:00:11.588644+00:00
europepmc
last seen: 2026-05-19T01:45:01.086888+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-05-21T05:10:58.409756+00:00
License: CC-BY-4.0