Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Activates the Inflammasome via NLRP3- and Caspase-2-Driven Mitochondrial Damage

Diverse roles of endoplasmic reticulum stress sensors in bacterial infection

Bacterial infection often leads to cellular damage, primarily marked by loss of cellular integrity and cell death. However, in recent years, it is being increasingly recognized that, in individual cells, there are graded responses collectively termed cell-autonomous defense mechanisms that induce cellular processes designed to limit cell damage, enable repair, and eliminate bacteria. Many of these responses are triggered not by detection of a particular bacterial effector or ligand but rather by their effects on key cellular processes and changes in homeostasis induced by microbial effectors when recognized. These in turn lead to a decrease in essential cellular functions such as protein translation or mitochondrial respiration and the induction of innate immune responses that may be specific to the cellular deficit induced. These processes are often associated with specific cell compartments, e.g., the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Under non-infection conditions, these systems are generally involved in sensing cellular stress and in inducing and orchestrating the subsequent cellular response. Thus, perturbations of ER homeostasis result in accumulation of unfolded proteins which are detected by ER stress sensors in order to restore the normal condition. The ER is also important during bacterial infection, and bacterial effectors that activate the ER stress sensors have been discovered. Increasing evidence now indicate that bacteria have evolved strategies to differentially activate different arms of ER stress sensors resulting in specific host cell response. In this review, we will describe the mechanisms used by bacteria to activate the ER stress sensors and discuss their role during infection.

Inositol-Requiring Enzyme 1-Dependent Activation of AMPK Promotes Brucella abortus Intracellular Growth

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a serine/threonine kinase that is well conserved during evolution. AMPK activation inhibits production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells via suppression of NADPH oxidase. However, the role of AMPK during the process of Brucella infection remains unknown. Our data demonstrate that B. abortus infection induces AMPK activation in HeLa cells in a time-dependent manner. The known AMPK kinases LKB1, CAMKKβ, and TAK1 are not required for the activation of AMPK by B. abortus infection. Instead, this activation is dependent on the RNase activity of inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1). Moreover, we also found that B. abortus infection-induced IRE1-dependent activation of AMPK promotes B. abortus intracellular growth with peritoneal macrophages via suppression of NADPH-derived ROS production.

IMPORTANCE

Previous studies showed that B. abortus infection does not promote any oxidative burst regulated by NADPH oxidase. However, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. We report for the first time that AMPK activation caused by B. abortus infection plays important role in NADPH oxidase-derived ROS production.

Stressed-Out Endoplasmic Reticulum Inflames the Mitochondria

Bacterial infection induces inflammasome activation and release of interleukin-1 (IL-1) cytokines. Bronner et al. (2015) show that during Brucella abortus infection, an endoplasmic reticulum stress sensor, IRE1α, initiates NLRP3- and caspase-2-mediated mitochondrial damage that potentiates NLRP3 inflammasome assembly.

Measurement of Mitochondrial DNA Release in Response to ER Stress

Mitochondria house the metabolic machinery for cellular ATP production. The mitochondrial network is sensitive to perturbations (e.g., oxidative stress and pathogen invasion) that can alter membrane potential, thereby compromising function. Healthy mitochondria maintain high membrane potential due to oxidative phosphorylation (Ly et al., 2003). Changes in mitochondrial function or calcium levels can cause depolarization, or a sharp decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (Bernardi, 2013). Mitochondrial depolarization induces opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP), which allows release of mitochondrial components like reactive oxygen species (mtROS), mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) or intermembrane space proteins into the cytosol (Martinou and Green, 2001; Tait and Green, 2010; Bronner and O'Riordan, 2014). These contents trigger inflammation, and can lead to cell death (West et al., 2011). Both mtROS and cytosolic mtDNA contribute to the activation of inflammasomes, multiprotein complexes that process the proinflammatory cytokines, IL-18 and IL-1β. Studies indicate that cytosolic mtDNA in particular can bind two different inflammasome sensors, AIM2 and NLRP3, leading to inflammasome activation (Burckstummer et al., 2009; Hornung and Latz, 2010). In this protocol, you will be able to specifically extract cytosolic mtDNA and quantify the amount using a qPCR assay.

Converging roles of caspases in inflammasome activation, cell death and innate immunity

Inflammatory and apoptotic caspases are central players in inflammation and apoptosis, respectively. However, recent studies have revealed that these caspases have functions beyond their established roles. In addition to mediating cleavage of the inflammasome-associated cytokines interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-18, inflammatory caspases modulate distinct forms of programmed cell death and coordinate cell-autonomous immunity and other fundamental cellular processes. Certain apoptotic caspases assemble structurally diverse and dynamic complexes that direct inflammasome and interferon responses to fine-tune inflammation. In this Review, we discuss the expanding and interconnected roles of caspases that highlight new aspects of this family of cysteine proteases in innate immunity.