Mycobacterium avium enters intestinal epithelial cells through the apical membrane, but not by the basolateral surface, activates small GTPase Rho and, once within epithelial cells, expresses an invasive phenotype.

Mycobacterium avium is a common pathogen in AIDS patients that is primarily (but not exclusively) acquired through the gastrointestinal tract, leading to the development of bacteraemia and disseminated disease. To cause infection through the gut, binding and invasion of the intestinal epithelial barrier are required. To characterize this process further, we determined the cell surface(s) (basolateral vs. apical membrane) that M. avium interacts with in intestinal mucosal cells in vitro. The level of binding and invasion of both HT-29 and Caco-2 intestinal cell monolayers by M. avium were similar when the assay was performed with control medium in the presence of Ca2+ (when only the apical surface was exposed), with Ca2+-depleted medium or with Ca2+-depleted medium + 1 mM EGTA (exposure of both apical and basolateral membranes), suggesting that the bacterium enters the apical surface of the epithelial lining. These observations were confirmed by assays in a transwell system and by using fluorescent microscopy. Real-time video microscopy showed that M. avium entry was not associated with membrane ruffling and the use of pharmacological inhibitors of the small GTPases demonstrated that M. avium invasion is dependent on the activation of the small GTPases Rho, but not on Rac or Cdc42. Passage of M. avium through HT-29 cells led to a phenotypic change (intracellular growth; IG) that was associated with a significantly greater (between five- and ninefold) ability to bind to and invade new monolayers of epithelial cells or macrophages when compared with the invasion by M. avium grown on agar (extracellular growth; EG). IG phenotype invasion of HT-29 cells also takes place only by the apical surface. M. avium enters intestinal epithelial cells by the apical surface and, once within the cells, changes phenotype, becoming more invasive towards both macrophages and other epithelial cells.