Activation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 in bacillary angiomatosis: evidence for a role of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 in bacterial infections.

Background: Bartonella species are the only known bacterial pathogens causing vasculoproliferative disorders in humans (bacillary angiomatosis [BA]). Cellular and bacterial pathogenetic mechanisms underlying the induction of BA are largely unknown.

Methods And Results: Activation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), the key transcription factor involved in angiogenesis, was detected in Bartonella henselae-infected host cells in vitro by immunofluorescence, Western blotting, electrophoretic mobility shift, and reporter gene assays and by immunohistochemistry in BA tissue lesions in vivo.