An advanced intestinal tissue model reveals host and pathogen strategies during Salmonella infection

Here, we introduce an intestinal tissue model to study human enteric infections. Our model comprises epithelial and endothelial layers, a primary intestinal collagen scaffold, and immune cells. We use Dual RNA-seq to chart the communication amongst several different cell types at the intestinal barrier and the pathogen. The results suggest that Salmonella uses its type III secretion systems to manipulate STAT3-dependent inflammatory responses locally in the epithelial compartment. Our approach promises to reveal more human-specific infection strategies employed by Salmonella and other pathogens. Overall design: Expression profiles of rRNA depleted total RNA from human intestinal epithelial, endothelial, NK and monocytic cells and Salmonella (+/- S. Typhimurium infection) were recorded in two replicates.