Endocytic recycling and vesicular transport systems mediate transcytosis of across cell monolayer
Authors: Shi-Jun Li
Jie Yan
Yang Li
Wei-Lin Hu
David M Ojcius
Xu&#x27;ai Lin
Jia-Qi Fang
Kai-Xuan Li
Journal: eLife (2019)
Discipline: BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Keywords: Leptospira interrogans; endocytosis; exocytosis; infection spreading; infectious disease
Affiliations: Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China., Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China., Division of Basic Medical Microbiology, State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China., Department of Biomedical Sciences, Arthur Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, San Francisco, United States., Institute of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, Guizhou Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Guiyang, China.

Abstract:  Many bacterial pathogens can cause septicemia and spread from the bloodstream into internal organs. During leptospirosis, individuals are infected by contact with Leptospira-containing animal urine-contaminated water. The spirochetes invade internal organs after septicemia to cause disease aggravation, but the mechanism of leptospiral excretion and spreading remains unknown. Here, we demonstrated that Leptospira interrogans entered human/mouse endothelial and epithelial cells and fibroblasts by caveolae/integrin-β1-PI3K/FAK-mediated microfilament-dependent endocytosis to form Leptospira (Lep)-vesicles that did not fuse with lysosomes. Lep-vesicles recruited Rab5/Rab11 and Sec/Exo-SNARE proteins in endocytic recycling and vesicular transport systems for intracellular transport and release by SNARE-complex/FAK-mediated microfilament/microtubule-dependent exocytosis. Both intracellular leptospires and infected cells maintained their viability. Leptospiral propagation was only observed in mouse fibroblasts. Our study revealed that L. interrogans utilizes endocytic recycling and vesicular transport systems for transcytosis across endothelial or epithelial barrier in blood vessels or renal tubules, which contributes to spreading in vivo and transmission of leptospirosis. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 There are some unexpected similarities between some blots in Figure 2B. ![file] This is a zoom in. ![file] Compare after a very little horizontal stretch. ![file] Could the authors please check? , 
 #1 Dear Edentulina Martensi, Thanks for your comment. I will contact with the author and check the data soon. , 
 Came here to post the same, with an additional finding marked in green. ![file] , 
 Figure 1C concern. * Orange boxes: The  BJ panel appears to show an overlap with the  THP-1 panel in Figure 1B of an older paper by some of the same authors, i.e. Peng Du et al. Emerging Microbes Infections (2018), DOI: 10.1038 s41426-018-0135-9. Could the authors clarify if these were the same samples, please? ![file] , 
 Retraction: Endocytic recycling and vesicular transport systems mediatetranscytosis of Leptospira interrogans across cell monolayer - Dec 3, 2020 Main text Li Y, Li K-X, Hu W-L, Ojcius DM, Fang J-Q, Li S-J, Lin X, Yan J. 2019. Endocytic recycling and vesicular transport systems mediate transcytosis of Leptospira interrogans across cell monolayer. eLife 8:e44594. doi: 10.7554 eLife.44594. Published 23, April 2019 The authors are retracting this article in response to concerns around image presentation that were first raised on PubPeer on August 20, 2020. We investigated this matter and examined the figures in this paper carefully. Out of more than 2,000 images in the article, six of them were reused mistakenly and unintentionally: Figure 2B contains two duplicated Western blot bands; one of the transmission electron microscopy images from Figure 1C (BJ panel) overlaps with an image published in Figure 1B from our lab in 2018 (Emerging Microbes Infections, https: doi.org 10.1038 s41426-018-0135-9); and there are three duplicated confocal images within Figure 4u2013figure supplement 1 (panel D). As our request for a Correction was not accepted by the editors, the following authors have agreed to the retraction: Yang Li, Kai-Xuan Li, Wei-Lin Hu, David M Ojcius, Shi-Jun Li, Xu ai Lin, Jie Yan. We also contacted the following author about the retraction but did not receive a response: Jia-Qi Fang. https: elifesciences.org articles 65227 ,