Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 May 15;8(5):e63760.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063760. Print 2013.

Increased urothelial cell apoptosis and chronic inflammation are associated with recurrent urinary tract infection in women

Fei-Chi Chuang  1 , Hann-Chorng Kuo
Affiliations

Increased urothelial cell apoptosis and chronic inflammation are associated with recurrent urinary tract infection in women

Fei-Chi Chuang et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: This study was designed to investigate whether increased urothelial cell apoptosis and chronic inflammation might contribute to recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in women.

Methods: The bladder biopsy specimens were collected from thirty women with recurrent UTI and ten controls. The bladder biopsies were performed at one to two months after UTI episode had been completely resolved and urine analysis and urine culture all showed negative. Immunofluorescence staining of the adhesive protein E-cadherin, mast cell and TUNEL were performed in all the bladder specimens. In addition, western blots were also performed to analyze the inflammatory proteins (phospho-p38, tryptase) and apoptotic protein (Bax) in the bladder mucosa specimens between patients with recurrent UTI and controls.

Results: Immunofluorescence staining showed significantly lower E-cadherin in the recurrent UTI bladder tissue compared with the controls (25.4±8.9 v 42.4±16.7, p<0.0001). The mast cell expression was significantly stronger in the recurrent UTI bladder tissue compared with the controls (2.5±1.8 v 1.3±1.2, p = 0.046). TUNEL staining revealed a significantly higher numbers of apoptotic cells in the recurrent UTI bladder tissue compared with the control bladder tissue (1.5±1.8 v 0.08±0.3, p<0.0001). Western blot analysis also showed that the expressions of tryptase and Bax increased in five recurrent UTI specimens compared with two normal control specimens.

Conclusion: Chronic inflammation, urothelial cell apoptosis and impairment of barrier function of urothelial cells might contribute to recurrent UTI in women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Expressions of E-cadherin, mast cell and TUNEL in the controls and patients with recurrent urinary tract infection (Recurrent UTI).
E-cadherin, mast cells and TUNEL staining is green and DAPI staining is blue.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Western blot analysis of expression of phospho-p38, tryptase and Bax in 5 patients with recurrent UTI (RUTI) compared with 2 normal controls (Nor).
Relative intensity of phospho-p38, tryptase and Bax in the normal and recurrent UTI were expressed as folds compared with α-tubulin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Haylen BT, de Ridder D, Freeman RM, Swift SE, Berghmans B, et al. (2010) An International Urogynecological Association (IUGA)/International Continence Society (ICS) joint report on the terminology for female pelvic floor dysfunction. Neurourol Urodynam 29: 4–20. - PubMed
    1. Van De Merwe JP, Arendsen HJ (2000) Interstitial cystitis: a review of immunological aspects of the aetiology and pathogenesis, with a hypothesis. BJU Int 85: 995–999. - PubMed
    1. Sant GR, Kempuraj D, Marchand JE, Theoharides TC (2007) The mast cell in interstitial cystitis: role in pathophysiology and pathogenesis. Urology 69 (4 Suppl): 34–40. - PubMed
    1. Graham E, Chai TC (2006) Dysfunction of bladder urothelium and bladder urothelial cells in interstitial cystitis. Current urology reports 7: 440–446. - PubMed
    1. Shie JH, Kuo HC (2011) Higher levels of cell apoptosis and abnormal E-cadherin expression in the urothelium are associated with inflammation in patients with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome. BJU Int 108: E136–141. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources