Cooperation between Multiple Microbial Pattern Recognition Systems Is Important for Host Protection against the Intracellular Pathogen Legionella pneumophila

ABSTRACT Multiple pattern recognition systems have been shown to initiate innate immune responses to microbial pathogens. The degree to which these detection systems cooperate with each other to provide host protection is unknown. Here, we investigated the importance of several immune surveillance pathways in protecting mice against lethal infection by the intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of a severe pneumonia called Legionnaires' disease. Rip2 and Naip5/NLRC4 signaling was found to contribute to the innate immune response generated against L. pneumophila in the lung. Elimination of Rip2 or Naip5/NLRC4 signaling in MyD88-deficient mice resulted in increased replication and dissemination of L. pneumophila and higher rates of mortality. Irradiated wild-type mice receiving bone marrow cells from pattern recognition receptor-deficient mice displayed L. pneumophila infection phenotypes similar to those of donor mice. Rip2 and Naip5/NLRC4 signaling provided additive effects in protecting MyD88-deficient mice from lethal infection by L. pneumophila, with the contribution of Naip5/NLRC4 being slightly greater than that of Rip2. Thus, activation of the Rip2, MyD88, and Naip5/NLRC4 signaling pathways triggers a coordinated and synergistic response that protects the host against lethal infection by L. pneumophila. These data provide new insight into how different pattern recognition systems interact functionally to generate innate immune responses that protect the host from lethal infection by activating cellular pathways that restrict intracellular replication of L. pneumophila and by recruiting to the site of infection additional phagocytes that eliminate extracellular bacteria.

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MyD88-Dependent Responses Involving Toll-Like Receptor 2 Are Important for Protection and Clearance of Legionella pneumophila in a Mouse Model of Legionnaires' Disease

Infection and Immunity ◽

10.1128/iai.02049-05 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 74 (6) ◽

pp. 3325-3333 ◽

Cited By ~ 90

Author(s):

Kristina A. Archer ◽

Craig R. Roy

Keyword(s):

Pattern Recognition ◽

Bacterial Growth ◽

Legionella Pneumophila ◽

Ex Vivo ◽

Innate Immune ◽

Toll Like Receptor ◽

Littermate Control ◽

Legionnaires Disease ◽

Deficient Mice

ABSTRACT Legionella pneumophila is a gram-negative facultative intracellular parasite of macrophages. Although L. pneumophila is the causative agent of a severe pneumonia known as Legionnaires' disease, it is likely that most infections caused by this organism are cleared by the host innate immune system. It is predicted that host pattern recognition proteins belonging to the Toll-like receptor (TLR) family are involved in the protective innate immune responses. We examined the role of TLR-mediated responses in L. pneumophila detection and clearance using genetically altered mouse hosts in which the macrophages are permissive for L. pneumophila intracellular replication. Our data demonstrate that cytokine production by bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMs) in response to L. pneumophila infection requires the TLR adapter protein MyD88 and is reduced in the absence of TLR2 but not in the absence of TLR4. Bacterial growth ex vivo in BMMs from MyD88-deficient mice was not enhanced compared to bacterial growth ex vivo in BMMs from heterozygous littermate controls. Wild-type mice were able to clear L. pneumophila from the lung, whereas respiratory infection of MyD88-deficient mice caused death that resulted from robust bacterial replication and dissemination. In contrast to an infection with virulent L. pneumophila, MyD88-deficient mice were able to clear infections with L. pneumophila dotA mutants, indicating that MyD88-independent responses in the lung are sufficient to clear bacteria that are unable to replicate intracellularly. In vivo growth of L. pneumophila was enhanced in the lungs of TLR2-deficient mice, which resulted in a delay in bacterial clearance. No significant differences were observed in the growth and clearance of L. pneumophila in the lungs of TLR4-deficient mice and heterozygous littermate control mice. Our data indicate that MyD88 is crucial for eliciting a protective innate immune response against virulent L. pneumophila and that TLR2 is one of the pattern recognition receptors involved in initiating this MyD88-dependent response.

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