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<i>Bartonella henselae</i> Detected in Malignant Melanoma, a Preliminary Study
oleh: Marna E. Ericson, Edward B. Breitschwerdt, Paul Reicherter, Cole Maxwell, Ricardo G. Maggi, Richard G. Melvin, Azar H. Maluki, Julie M. Bradley, Jennifer C. Miller, Glenn E. Simmons, Jamie Dencklau, Keaton Joppru, Jack Peterson, Will Bae, Janet Scanlon, Lynne T. Bemis
Format: | Article |
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Diterbitkan: | MDPI AG 2021-03-01 |
Deskripsi
<i>Bartonella bacilliformis (B. bacilliformis)</i>, <i>Bartonella henselae (B. henselae)</i>, and <i>Bartonella quintana (B. quintana)</i> are bacteria known to cause verruga peruana or bacillary angiomatosis, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-dependent cutaneous lesions in humans. Given the bacteria’s association with the dermal niche and clinical suspicion of occult infection by a dermatologist, we determined if patients with melanoma had evidence of <i>Bartonella</i> spp. infection. Within a one-month period, eight patients previously diagnosed with melanoma volunteered to be tested for evidence of <i>Bartonella</i> spp. exposure/infection. Subsequently, confocal immunohistochemistry and PCR for <i>Bartonella</i> spp. were used to study melanoma tissues from two patients. Blood from seven of the eight patients was either seroreactive, PCR positive, or positive by both modalities for <i>Bartonella</i> spp. exposure. Subsequently, <i>Bartonella</i> organisms that co-localized with VEGFC immunoreactivity were visualized using multi-immunostaining confocal microscopy of thick skin sections from two patients. Using a co-culture model, <i>B. henselae</i> was observed to enter melanoma cell cytoplasm and resulted in increased vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGFC) and interleukin 8 (IL-8) production. Findings from this small number of patients support the need for future investigations to determine the extent to which <i>Bartonella</i> spp. are a component of the melanoma pathobiome.