The roles of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4 in the host inflammatory response to infection caused by Chlamydia trachomatis have not been elucidated. We examined production of TNF-α and IL-6 in wild-type TLR2 knockout (KO), and TLR4 KO murine peritoneal macrophages infected with the mouse pneumonitis strain of C. trachomatis. Furthermore, we compared the outcomes of genital tract infection in control, TLR2 KO, and TLR4 KO mice. Macrophages lacking TLR2 produced significantly less TNF-α and IL6 in response to active infection. In contrast, macrophages from TLR4 KO mice consistently produced higher TNF-α and IL-6 responses than those from normal mice on in vitro infection. Infected TLR2-deficient fibroblasts had less mRNA for IL-1, IL-6, and macrophage-inflammatory protein-2, but TLR4-deficient cells had increased mRNA levels for these cytokines compared with controls, suggesting that ligation of TLR4 by whole chlamydiae may down-modulate signaling by other TLRs. In TLR2 KO mice, although the course of genital tract infection was not different from that of controls, significantly lower levels of TNF-α and macrophage-inflammatory protein-2 were detected in genital tract secretions during the first week of infection, and there was a significant reduction in oviduct and mesosalpinx pathology at late time points. TLR4 KO mice responded to in vivo infection similarly to wild-type controls and developed similar pathology. TLR2 is an important mediator in the innate immune response to C. trachomatis infection and appears to play a role in both early production of inflammatory mediators and development of chronic inflammatory pathology.

Chlamydia trachomatis survives within host cells by inhibiting fusion between Chlamydia vacuoles and lysosomes. We show here that treatment of infected macrophages with ATP leads to killing of chlamydiae through ligation of the purinergic receptor, P2X(7)R. Chlamydial killing required phospholipase D (PLD) activation, as PLD inhibition led to rescue of chlamydiae in ATP-treated macrophages. However, there was no PLD activation nor chlamydial killing in ATP-treated P2X(7)R-deficient macrophages. P2X(7)R ligation exerts its effects by promoting fusion between Chlamydia vacuoles and lysosomes. P2X(7)R stimulation also resulted in macrophage death, but fusion with lysosomes preceded macrophage death and PLD inhibition did not prevent macrophage death. These results suggest that P2X(7)R ligation leads to PLD activation, which is directly responsible for inhibition of infection.