Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Fatykhova, Diana
• Rabes, Anne
• Machnik, Christoph
• Guruprasad, Kunchur
• Pache, Florence
• Berg, Johanna
• Toennies, Mario
• Bauer, Torsten T
• Schneider, Paul
• Schimek, Maria
• Eggeling, Stephan
• Mitchell, Timothy J
• Mitchell, Andrea M
• Hilker, Rolf
• Hain, Torsten
• Suttorp, Norbert
• Hippenstiel, Stefan
• Hocke, Andreas C
• Opitz, Bastian
• Beall, Bernard

Titel

Serotype 1 and 8 Pneumococci Evade Sensing by Inflammasomes in Human Lung Tissue

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2015-08, Vol.10 (8), p.e0137108-e0137108

Ort / Verlag

United States: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis. The pore-forming toxin pneumolysin is a key virulence factor of S. pneumoniae, which can be sensed by the NLRP3 inflammasome. Among the over 90 serotypes, serotype 1 pneumococci (particularly MLST306) have emerged across the globe as a major cause of invasive disease. The cause for its particularity is, however, incompletely understood. We therefore examined pneumococcal infection in human cells and a human lung organ culture system mimicking infection of the lower respiratory tract. We demonstrate that different pneumococcal serotypes differentially activate inflammasome-dependent IL-1β production in human lung tissue and cells. Whereas serotype 2, 3, 6B, 9N pneumococci expressing fully haemolytic pneumolysins activate NLRP3 inflammasome-dependent responses, serotype 1 and 8 strains expressing non-haemolytic toxins are poor activators of IL-1β production. Accordingly, purified haemolytic pneumolysin but not serotype 1-associated non-haemolytic toxin activates strong IL-1β production in human lungs. Our data suggest that the evasion of inflammasome-dependent innate immune responses by serotype 1 pneumococci might contribute to their ability to cause invasive diseases in humans.