Normal Neutrophil Function in Cathepsin G-Deficient Mice

The NADPH Oxidase and Microbial Killing by Neutrophils, With a Particular Emphasis on the Proposed Antimicrobial Role of Myeloperoxidase within the Phagocytic Vacuole

This review is devoted to a consideration of the way in which the NADPH oxidase of neutrophils, NOX2, functions to enable the efficient killing of bacteria and fungi. It includes a critical examination of the current dogma that its primary purpose is the generation of hydrogen peroxide as substrate for myeloperoxidase-catalyzed generation of hypochlorite. Instead, it is demonstrated that NADPH oxidase functions to optimize the ionic and pH conditions within the vacuole for the solubilization and optimal activity of the proteins released into this compartment from the cytoplasmic granules, which kill and digest the microbes. The general role of other NOX systems as electrochemical generators to alter the pH and ionic composition in compartments on either side of a membrane in plants and animals will also be examined.

Moraxella-dependent alpha 1-antichymotrypsin neutralization: a unique virulence mechanism

The acute phase reactant and protease inhibitor alpha(1)-antichymotrypsin is considered to play a protective role in the airways, but whether it interacts with respiratory bacteria is not known. We analyzed whether the common respiratory pathogens Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and other bacterial species interact with antichymotrypsin. M. catarrhalis was the only species that bound antichymotrypsin among 25 bacterial species tested by flow cytometry and direct binding assay. We compared a series of clinical isolates in addition to wild-type and ubiquitous surface protein-deficient Moraxella to study the nature of antichymotrypsin binding by the bacteria. Experiments with Moraxella mutants revealed that ubiquitous surface proteins A1 and A2 were responsible for the interaction, and using recombinant fragments, a consensus sequence within ubiquitous surface proteins A1 and A2 was defined. Binding of iodine-labeled antichymotrypsin was dose dependent and strong (dissociation constant [K(d)] 24.9-44.8 nM). Moreover, a chymotrypsin activity assay showed that antichymotrypsin, when bound to the bacterial surface, was neutralized. Moraxella antichymotrypsin neutralization is a novel microbial virulence mechanism that may induce excessive inflammation resulting in more exposed extracellular matrix that is beneficial for bacterial colonization.