Virulent Salmonella enterica infections can be exacerbated by concomitant infection of the host with a live attenuated S. enterica vaccine via Toll-like receptor 4-dependent interleukin-10 production with the involvement of both TRIF and MyD88

Microbiota may affect the tumor type but not overall tumor development in two models of heritable cancer

Microbial impact on tumorigenesis of heritable cancers proximal to the gut is well documented. Whether the microbiota influences cancers arising from inborn mutations at sites distal to the gut is undetermined. Using two models of heritable cancer, we found the microbiota to be inconsequential for tumor development. However, the type of tumor that develops may be influenced by the microbiota. This work furthers our understanding of the microbial impact on tumor development.

Interleukin-10 Production by T and B Cells Is a Key Factor to Promote Systemic Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Infection in Mice

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) is a Gram-negative bacterium that produces disease in numerous hosts. In mice, oral inoculation is followed by intestinal colonization and subsequent systemic dissemination, which leads to severe pathogenesis without the activation of an efficient anti-Salmonella immune response. This feature suggests that the infection caused by S. Typhimurium may promote the production of anti-inflammatory molecules by the host that prevent efficient T cell activation and bacterial clearance. In this study, we describe the contribution of immune cells producing the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) to the systemic infection caused by S. Typhimurium in mice. We observed that the production of IL-10 was required by S. Typhimurium to cause a systemic disease, since mice lacking IL-10 (IL-10-/-) were significantly more resistant to die after an infection as compared to wild-type (WT) mice. IL-10-/- mice had reduced bacterial loads in internal organs and increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in serum at 5 days of infection. Importantly, WT mice showed high bacterial loads in tissues and no increase of cytokines in serum after 5 days of S. Typhimurium infection, except for IL-10. In WT mice, we observed a peak of il-10 messenger RNA production in ileum, spleen, and liver after 5 days of infection. Importantly, the adoptive transfer of T or B cells from WT mice restored the susceptibility of IL-10-/- mice to systemic S. Typhimurium infection, suggesting that the generation of regulatory cells in vivo is required to sustain a systemic infection by S. Typhimurium. These findings support the notion that IL-10 production from lymphoid cells is a key process in the infective cycle of S. Typhimurium in mice due to generation of a tolerogenic immune response that prevents bacterial clearance and supports systemic dissemination.

Monie T, Bryant CE. CARD9 negatively regulates NLRP3-induced IL-1β production on Salmonella infection of macrophages

Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) is a proinflammatory cytokine required for host control of bacterial infections, and its production must be tightly regulated to prevent excessive inflammation. Here we show that caspase recruitment domain-containing protein 9 (CARD9), a protein associated with induction of proinflammatory cytokines by fungi, has a negative role on IL-1β production during bacterial infection. Specifically, in response to activation of the nucleotide oligomerization domain receptor pyrin-domain containing protein 3 (NLRP3) by Salmonella infection, CARD9 negatively regulates IL-1β by fine-tuning pro-IL-1β expression, spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK)-mediated NLRP3 activation and repressing inflammasome-associated caspase-8 activity. CARD9 is suppressed during Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium infection, facilitating increased IL-1β production. CARD9 is, therefore, a central signalling hub that coordinates a pathogen-specific host inflammatory response.

Salmonella Typhimurium exploits inflammation to its own advantage in piglets

Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) is responsible for foodborne zoonotic infections that, in humans, induce self-limiting gastroenteritis. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the wild-type strain S. Typhimurium (STM14028) is able to exploit inflammation fostering an active infection. Due to the similarity between human and porcine diseases induced by S. Typhimurium, we used piglets as a model for salmonellosis and gastrointestinal research. This study showed that STM14028 is able to efficiently colonize in vitro porcine mono-macrophages and intestinal columnar epithelial (IPEC-J2) cells, and that the colonization significantly increases with LPS pre-treatment. This increase was then reversed by inhibiting the LPS stimulation through LPS antagonist, confirming an active role of LPS stimulation in STM14028-intracellular colonization. Moreover, LPS in vivo treatment increased cytokines blood level and body temperature at 4 h post infection, which is consistent with an acute inflammatory stimulus, capable to influence the colonization of STM14028 in different organs and tissues. The present study proves for the first time that in acute enteric salmonellosis, S. Typhimurium exploits inflammation for its benefit in piglets.

Protective immunity conferred by a DNA adenine methylase deficient Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium vaccine when delivered in-water to sheep challenged with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium

Stimulation of acquired immunity to Salmonella in livestock is not feasible in neonates (which can be infected within 24h of birth) and is challenging in feedlots, which typically source animals from diverse locations and vendors. Induction of innate immune mechanisms through mass vaccination of animals upon arrival to feedlots is an alternative approach. Transport, environmental conditions, changes in social grouping, and further handling during feedlot assembly are significant stressors. These factors, as well as concurrent exposure to a diversity of pathogens, contribute to the risk of disease. We have shown that oral immunization of calves with a modified live Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium vaccine strain, which lacks the DNA adenine methylase gene (S. Typhimurium dam), attenuates the severity of clinical disease, reduces fecal shedding, and promotes clearance of salmonellae following virulent homologous and heterologous challenge. This study examines the safety and efficacy of a S. Typhimurium dam vaccine in sheep via oral delivery in drinking water (ad libitum), as a means to effectively vaccinate large groups of animals. Adult merino sheep were vaccinated in drinking water -28 days, -7 days and 24h pre and 24h post-virulent Salmonella Typhimurium challenge which was administered via the oral route. Significant attenuation of clinical disease (temperature, appetite, and attitude) and reduction in mortality and virulent Salmonella Typhimurium fecal shedding and tissue colonization was observed in animals that received the vaccine 28 and 7 days pre-challenge. Further, vaccination did not pose a risk to stock previously infected with virulent salmonellae as mortalities and clinical disease in sheep vaccinated prior to or following virulent challenge did not differ significantly from the non-vaccinated controls. The capacity of S. Typhimurium dam vaccines delivered in drinking water to protect livestock from virulent Salmonella challenge offers an effective, economical, stressor free Salmonella prophylaxis for intensive livestock production systems.

The interaction between a non-pathogenic and a pathogenic strain synergistically enhances extra-intestinal virulence in Escherichia coli

Finding two or more genotypes of a single species within an infected sample is a not infrequent event. In this work, three Escherichia coli strains of decreasing extra-intestinal virulence (pathogenic B2S and B1S strains, and the avirulent K-12 MG1655 strain) were tested in septicaemia and urinary tract infection (UTI) mouse models, either separately or in pairs. Survival was monitored and bacteria were counted in various organs. Serum interleukin (IL)-6, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and IL-10 were measured. We show that a mix of high amounts of B1S or of MG1655 with low amounts of B2S killed more rapidly (B1S), or killed more mice (MG1655), than either high amounts of B1S, high amounts of MG1655 or low amounts of B2S separately in the mouse septicaemia model. This bacterial synergy persisted when high amounts of dead or abnormal-LPS K-12 cells were injected together with a low amount of B2S. In both septicaemia and UTI models, significantly more bacteria were recovered from the organs of mice injected with the MG1655/B2S mix than from those of mice injected with the inocula separately. Consistently, in the septicaemia model, more IL-6 was secreted before death by the mice that were injected with the mix of bacteria than by the mice that were injected with the inocula separately. The synergistically enhanced mortality in the case of co-infection in the septicaemia model persisted in RFcγ(-/-), Myd88(-/-) and IL-6(-/-) knockout mice. This synergistically increased virulence resulting from the interaction between an avirulent and a pathogenic strain of the same bacterial species raises questions about the role of avirulent bacteria in the development of some extra-intestinal infections.

Bacterial growth rate and host factors as determinants of intracellular bacterial distributions in systemic Salmonella enterica infections

Bacteria of the species Salmonella enterica cause a range of life-threatening diseases in humans and animals worldwide. The within-host quantitative, spatial, and temporal dynamics of S. enterica interactions are key to understanding how immunity acts on these infections and how bacteria evade immune surveillance. In this study, we test hypotheses generated from mathematical models of in vivo dynamics of Salmonella infections with experimental observation of bacteria at the single-cell level in infected mouse organs to improve our understanding of the dynamic interactions between host and bacterial mechanisms that determine net growth rates of S. enterica within the host. We show that both bacterial and host factors determine the numerical distributions of bacteria within host cells and thus the level of dispersiveness of the infection.

Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium exploits Toll-like receptor signaling during the host-pathogen interaction

Salmonella survives and replicates in host cells by using a type III secretion system to evade host immune defenses. The innate immune system plays an important role as a first line of defense against pathogens and is mediated in part by Toll-like receptors (TLRs); however, the infection dynamics of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium within macrophages stimulated with TLR ligands is poorly understood. We studied the infection dynamics of Salmonella in murine macrophages previously exposed to TLR ligands and report that treatment of macrophages with four different TLR agonists resulted in their increased phagocytic capacity toward Salmonella but not fluorescent microspheres. Further analysis revealed that the intracellular replication of Salmonella was enhanced in TLR-stimulated macrophages in a manner requiring a functional type III secretion system and enhanced transcriptional activity of the sseA virulence gene operon. Studies of mice that normally resolve an acute primary infection with Salmonella revealed that pretreatment of animals with CpG DNA had a detrimental effect on disease outcome. CpG-treated mice infected with Salmonella all succumbed to infection and had higher bacterial loads in the spleen than did control animals. These data suggest that Salmonella can exploit macrophages activated via the innate immune system for increased intracellular survival.

Activation of Toll-like receptors 2 and 4 in Aspergillus fumigatus keratitis

Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4 are major receptors of Aspergillus fumigatus. Aspergillus fumigatus signaling in cornea induces the production of many pro-inflammatory molecules. In this study, we have shown that exposure of telomerase-immortalized human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs) to A. fumigatus antigens resulted in up-regulation of TLR2 and TLR4, and release of IL-1beta and IL-10 in HCECs, effects that could be inhibited by treatment with TLR2, and TLR4 antibodies. In addition, the A. fumigatus antigens-induced production of IL-1beta and IL-10 in supernatants of corneal epithelial cells was also attenuated by NF-kappaB inhibitor. Aspergillus fumigatus keratitis developed in Wistar rats, as evidenced by high SLE scores, influx of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), activation of TLR2 and TLR4, and production of IL-1beta and IL-10 over controls. These findings indicate that the cornea has functional TLR2 and TLR4, and activation of TLR2 and TLR4 through NF-kappaB may contribute to pathogenesis of keratomycosis.

Veterinary vaccines: alternatives to antibiotics?

The prevention of infectious diseases of animals by vaccination has been routinely practiced for decades and has proved to be one of the most cost-effective methods of disease control. However, since the pioneering work of Pasteur in the 1880s, the composition of veterinary vaccines has changed very little from a conceptual perspective and this has, in turn, limited their application in areas such as the control of chronic infectious diseases. New technologies in the areas of vaccine formulation and delivery as well as our increased knowledge of disease pathogenesis and the host responses associated with protection from disease offer promising alternatives for vaccine formulation as well as targets for the prevention of bacterial disease. These new vaccines have the potential to lessen our reliance on antibiotics for disease control, but will only reach their full potential when used in combination with other intervention strategies.

A dynamic view of the spread and intracellular distribution of Salmonella enterica

The events that determine the dynamics of proliferation, spread and distribution of microbial pathogens within their hosts are surprisingly heterogeneous and poorly understood. We contend that understanding these phenomena at a sophisticated level with the help of mathematical models is a prerequisite for the development of truly novel, targeted preventative measures and drug regimes. We describe here recent studies of Salmonella enterica infections in mice which suggest that bacteria resist the antimicrobial environment inside host cells and spread to new sites, where infection foci develop, and thus avoid local escalation of the adaptive immune response. We further describe implications for our understanding of the pathogenic mechanism inside the host.