EZR and gonorrhea: Cervical epithelial cells may protect themselves from GC infection by reducing ezrin and β-catenin expression in the luminal layer of the ectocervical epithelial cells, which associates with low GC invasion and penetration, and by highly polarizing actin-ezrin networks and building rigid microvilli at the apical surface of endocervical epithelial cells, which associate with reduced GC invasion.