Chronic and low-grade
inflammation associated with persistent
bacterial infections has been linked to colon
tumor development; however, the impact of transient and self-limited
infections in bacterially driven colon
tumorigenesis has remained enigmatic. Here we report that UshA is a novel
genotoxin in attaching/effacing (A/E) pathogens, which include the human pathogens enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, enterohemorrhagic E. coli, and their murine equivalent Citrobacter rodentium (CR). UshA harbors direct
DNA digestion activity with a catalytic
histidine-
aspartic acid dyad. Injected via the
type III secretion system (T3SS) into host cells, UshA triggers DNA damage and initiates
tumorigenic transformation during
infections in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, UshA plays an indispensable role in CR
infection-accelerated colon
tumorigenesis in genetically susceptible Apc MinĪ716/+ mice. Collectively, our results reveal that UshA, functioning as a bacterial T3SS-dependent
genotoxin, plays a critical role in prompting transient and noninvasive
bacterial infection-accelerated colon
tumorigenesis in mice. SIGNIFICANCE: We identified UshA, a novel T3SS-dependent
genotoxin in A/E pathogens that possesses direct
DNA digestion activity and confers bacterially accelerated colon
tumorigenesis in mice. Our results demonstrate that acute and noninvasive
infection with A/E pathogens harbors a far-reaching impact on the development of
colon cancer.This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1.