ADHESION ONTO AND INVASION INTO MAMMALIAN-CELLS BY MYCOPLASMA-PENETRANS - A NEWLY ISOLATED MYCOPLASMA FROM PATIENTS WITH AIDS

The newly identified mycoplasma, Mycoplasma pentrans shows remarkable pathobiologic properties: it adheres to cell surfaces, deeply penetrat es into the cell, strongly hemadsorbs human red blood cells, and cytad sorbs human CD4+ lymphocytes and monocytes. These in vitro biologic ac tivities of mycoplasmas have been previously shown to be associated wi th pathogenic virulence in vivo. Both adhesion and invasion clearly in volve the organism's unique tip-like structure. Invading mycoplasmas o ften have their tip-like structure deeply buried in the cytoplasm of i nfected mammalian cells. Extensive invasion of the mycoplasma into the cytoplasm may kill the cells. The same pathobiologic processes of adh esion and invasion using the specialized tip-like structure are found on the epithelium in the patient's urogenital tract infected by M. pen etrans. Both in vitro and in vivo findings suggest a possible pathogen ic role of this newly discovered human mycoplasma and call for careful evaluation of its role in human diseases.