Divenita Govender

Abstract Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis, remains difficult to study owing to long-standing limitations in in vitro cultivation. Although a rabbit epithelial cell co-culture system (Sf1Ep) enabled major advances, the absence of human cell-based models limits clinical relevance and mechanistic understanding of host–pathogen interactions. Here, we established a co-culture system using human epithelial cell lines capable of supporting T. pallidum growth in vitro.