ArticlePLoS pathogens2018
Outer membrane vesicles from Neisseria gonorrhoeae target PorB to mitochondria and induce apoptosis.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 93 papers.
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Who cites it
93 citing papers in PubMed, 146 citations in OpenAlex.
- Abolishing PorB-induced mitophagy enhances gonococcal outer membrane vesicle vaccine efficacy.Emerging microbes & infections · 2026Article
- NheABC is a pH-dependent cytotoxin that targets mitochondria and contributes to the virulence of Bacillus cereus in wound infections.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Article
- Article
- New insights into outer membrane vesicles in Gram-negative bacteria from biogenesis to applications.Communications biology · 2026Review
- Cinnamaldehyde inhibits the NLRP3 inflammasome and inflammatory response by reducing oxidative stress in Neisseria gonorrhoeae-infected macrophages.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2026Article
- Outer membrane vesicles hijack TIM-1 for cellular uptake.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- SypC: A symbiont morphogen packaged in bacterial vesicles.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Outer membrane vesicles: Versatile nanocarriers for therapeutic delivery and immune modulation.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Review
- Gonococcal outer membrane vesicle vaccines: bacterial population biology, clinical trials, immune profiling, and vaccine design.NPJ vaccines · 2026Review
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- Characterization of outer membrane vesicles from Acinetobacter haemolyticus and their role in the dissemination of carbapenem resistance.Medical microbiology and immunology · 2026Article
- Chlamydial membrane vesicles deliver the beta barrel outer membrane protein OmpA to mitochondria to inhibit apoptosis.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- From gatekeepers to mitochondrial mischief: how bacterial outer membrane proteins crash the host cell party.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2026Review
- Article
- Apoptosis as an evolutionary battleground: pathogen pressure and the shaping of programmed cell death pathways.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Effects of surface-exposed sialic acid and LOS outer core on the ability of native Neisseria meningitidis outer membrane vesicles (nOMVs) to induce cytokine expression and pyroptotic pathways in THP-1-derived macrophages.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The gut-brain axis in Alzheimer's disease is shaped by commensal gut microbiota derived extracellular vesicles.Gut microbes · 2025Article
- Bacterial outer membrane vesicles: a novel target in mediating bacterial infection and host immune responses.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2025Review
- A Paradigm Shift in SSTI Management: The Multifunctional Role of Extracellular Vesicles.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- CRISPRi-mediated repression of threeJournal of bacteriology · 2025Article
33 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhoea by evading innate immunity. Colonizing the mucosa of the reproductive tract depends on the bacterial outer membrane porin, PorB, which is essential for ion and nutrient uptake. PorB is also targeted to host mitochondria and regulates apoptosis pathways to promote infections. How PorB traffics from the outer membrane of N. gonorrhoeae to mitochondria and whether it modulates innate immune cells, such as macrophages, remains unclear. Here, we show that N. gonorrhoeae secretes PorB via outer membrane vesicles (OMVs). Purified OMVs contained primarily outer membrane proteins including oligomeric PorB. The porin was targeted to mitochondria of macrophages after exposure to purified OMVs and wild type N. gonorrhoeae. This was associated with loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, release of cytochrome c, activation of apoptotic caspases and cell death in a time-dependent manner. Consistent with this, OMV-induced macrophage death was prevented with the pan-caspase inhibitor, Q-VD-PH. This shows that N. gonorrhoeae utilizes OMVs to target PorB to mitochondria and to induce apoptosis in macrophages, thus affecting innate immunity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.