Treponema pallidum induces pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion in macrophages and macrophage-endothelial co-cultures
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Syphilis, caused by the extracellular bacterium Treponema pallidum ssp. pallidum , is a multi-stage and systemic infection that is lifelong in the absence of treatment. Two host cell types that frequently encounter T. pallidum during infection are endothelial cells and macrophages; treponemes disseminate through the vasculature and cross the blood–brain and placental barriers by traversing endothelial cell barriers, and macrophages are known to be critical for clearance of T. pallidum. Despite the importance of macrophages in treponemal clearance and endothelial cells in treponemal dissemination, a comprehensive understanding of the cytokines secreted by T. pallidum -exposed macrophages in the presence and absence of endothelial cells has not yet been achieved. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted time-course cytokine secretion profiling of macrophage-differentiated THP-1 cells alone and in co-culture with human brain microvascular endothelial cells. These experiments revealed reduced IL-8 secretion and increased secretion of RANTES, soluble ICAM-1, IL-1β, MCP-1, GM-CSF, TNF, and IL-6 in T. pallidum -exposed macrophage monocultures and macrophage-endothelial cell co-cultures compared to the same culture conditions in the absence of T. pallidum . These investigations enhance our understanding of macrophage-mediated, T. pallidum -focused innate immune responses occurring at endothelial sites. Further, this study provides insight into pro-inflammatory mechanisms elicited after exposure to this pathogen that may contribute to endothelial junction disruption, T. pallidum dissemination, and syphilis symptoms.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".