Lactobacilli are probiotic commensal bacteria and potent modulators of immunity. When present in the gut or supplemented as probiotics, they beneficially modulate ex vivo immune responsiveness. Further, factors derived from several lactobacilli strains act immune regulatory in vitro. In contrast, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is known to induce excessive T cell activation. In this study, we aimed to investigate S. aureus-induced activation of human mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAIT cells), γδ T cells, NK cells, as well as of conventional CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in vitro. Further, we investigated if lactobacilli-derived factors could modulate their activation. PBMC were cultured with S. aureus 161:2 cell-free supernatants (CFS), staphylococcal enterotoxin A or CD3/CD28-beads alone, or in combination with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG-CFS or Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938-CFS and activation of T and NK cells was evaluated. S. aureus-CFS induced IFN-γ and CD107a expression as well as proliferation. Costimulation with lactobacilli-CFS dampened lymphocyte-activation in all cell types analyzed. Preincubation with lactobacilli-CFS was enough to reduce subsequent activation, and the absence of APC or APC-derived IL-10 did not prevent lactobacilli-mediated dampening. Finally, lactate selectively dampened activation of unconventional T cells and NK cells. In summary, we show that molecules present in the lactobacilli-CFS are able to directly dampen in vitro activation of conventional and unconventional T cells and of NK cells. This study provides novel insights on the immune-modulatory nature of probiotic lactobacilli and suggests a role for lactobacilli in the modulation of induced T and NK cell activation.
Secreted factors derived from Lactobacillus are able to dampen pro-inflammatory cytokine responses. Still, the nature of these components and the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we aimed to identify the components and the mechanism involved in the Lactobacillus-mediated modulation of immune cell activation. PBMC were stimulated in the presence of the cell free supernatants (CFS) of cultured Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938, followed by evaluation of cytokine responses. We show that lactobacilli-CFS effectively dampen induced IFN-γ and IL-17A responses from T- and NK cells in a monocyte dependent manner by a soluble factor. A proteomic array analysis highlighted Lactobacillus-induced IL-1 receptor antagonist (ra) as a potential candidate responsible for the IFN-γ dampening activity. Indeed, addition of recombinant IL-1ra to stimulated PBMC resulted in reduced IFN-γ production. Further characterization of the lactobacilli-CFS revealed the presence of extracellular membrane vesicles with a similar immune regulatory activity to that observed with the lactobacilli-CFS. In conclusion, we have shown that lactobacilli produce extracellular MVs, which are able to dampen pro-inflammatory cytokine responses in a monocyte-dependent manner.
Bacterial extracellular membrane vesicles (MV) are potent mediators of microbe-host signals, and they are not only important in host-pathogen interactions but also for the interactions between mutualistic bacteria and their hosts. Studies of MV derived from probiotics could enhance the understanding of these universal signal entities, and here we have studied MV derived from Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 and BG-R46. The production of MV increased with cultivation time and after oxygen stress. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics analyses revealed that the MV carried a large number of bacterial cell surface proteins, several predicted to be involved in host-bacteria interactions. A 5′-nucleotidase, which catalyze the conversion of AMP into the signal molecule adenosine, was one of these and analysis of enzymatic activity showed that L. reuteri BG-R46 derived MV exhibited the highest activity. We also detected the TLR2 activator lipoteichoic acid on the MV. In models for host interactions, we first observed that L. reuteri MV were internalized by Caco-2/HT29-MTX epithelial cells, and in a dose-dependent manner decreased the leakage caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli by up to 65%. Furthermore, the MV upregulated IL-1β and IL-6 from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), but also dampened IFN-γ and TNF-α responses in PBMC challenged with Staphylococcus aureus. Finally, we showed that MV from the L. reuteri strains have an antagonistic effect on the pain receptor transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 in a model with primary dorsal root ganglion cells from rats. In summary, we have shown that these mobile nanometer scale MV reproduce several biological effects of L. reuteri cells and that the production parameters and selection of strain have an impact on the activity of the MV. This could potentially provide key information for development of innovative and more efficient probiotic products.
Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a human pathogen as well as a frequent colonizer of skin and mucosa. This bacterium potently activates conventional T-cells through superantigens and it is suggested to induce T-cell cytokine-production as well as to promote a regulatory phenotype in T-cells in order to avoid clearance. This study aimed to investigate how S. aureus impacts the production of regulatory and pro-inflammatory cytokines and the expression of CD161 and HELIOS by peripheral CD4+FOXP3+ T-cells. Stimulation of PBMC with S. aureus 161:2-cell free supernatant (CFS) induced expression of IL-10, IFN-γ and IL-17A in FOXP3+ cells. Further, CD161 and HELIOS separated the FOXP3+ cells into four distinct populations regarding cytokine-expression. Monocyte-depletion decreased S. aureus 161:2-induced activation of FOXP3+ cells while pre-stimulation of purified monocytes with S. aureus 161:2-CFS and subsequent co-culture with autologous monocyte-depleted PBMC was sufficient to mediate activation of FOXP3+ cells. Together, these data show that S. aureus potently induces FOXP3+ cells and promotes a diverse phenotype with expression of regulatory and pro-inflammatory cytokines connected to increased CD161-expression. This could indicate potent regulation or a contribution of FOXP3+ cells to inflammation and repression of immune-suppression upon encounter with S. aureus.
The host epithelium is both a barrier against, and the target for microbial infections. Maintaining regulated cell growth ensures an intact protective layer towards microbial-induced cellular damage. Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections disrupt host cell cycle regulation machinery and the infection causes DNA double strand breaks that delay progression through the G2/M phase. We show that intracellular gonococci upregulate and release restriction endonucleases that enter the nucleus and damage human chromosomal DNA. Bacterial lysates containing restriction endonucleases were able to fragment genomic DNA as detected by PFGE. Lysates were also microinjected into the cytoplasm of cells in interphase and after 20 h, DNA double strand breaks were identified by 53BP1 staining. In addition, by using live-cell microscopy and NHS-ester stained live gonococci we visualized the subcellular location of the bacteria upon mitosis. Infected cells show dysregulation of the spindle assembly checkpoint proteins MAD1 and MAD2, impaired and prolonged M-phase, nuclear swelling, micronuclei formation and chromosomal instability. These data highlight basic molecular functions of how gonococcal infections affect host cell cycle regulation, cause DNA double strand breaks and predispose cellular malignancies.
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