The innate immune system is critical for host defense against microbial pathogens, yet many pathogens express virulence factors that impair immune function. Here, we used the bacterial pathogen Legionella pneumophila to understand how the immune system successfully overcomes pathogen subversion mechanisms. L. pneumophila replicates within macrophages by using a type IV secretion system to translocate bacterial effectors into the host cell cytosol. As a consequence of effector delivery, host protein synthesis is blocked at several steps, including translation initiation and elongation. Despite this translation block, infected cells robustly produce proinflammatory cytokines, but the basis for this is poorly understood. By using a reporter system that specifically discriminates between infected and uninfected cells within a population, we demonstrate here that infected macrophages produced IL-1α and IL-1β, but were poor producers of IL-6, TNF, and IL-12, which are critical mediators of host protection. Uninfected bystander cells robustly produced IL-6, TNF, and IL-12, and this bystander response required IL-1 receptor (IL-1R) signaling during early pulmonary infection. Our data demonstrate functional heterogeneity in production of critical protective cytokines and suggest that collaboration between infected and uninfected cells enables the immune system to bypass pathogen-mediated translation inhibition to generate an effective immune response.L. pneumophila | IL-1 | IL-1R | TNF | type IV secretion system
c Legionella pneumophila, an intracellular pathogen responsible for the severe pneumonia Legionnaires' disease, uses its dot/icmencoded type IV secretion system (T4SS) to translocate effector proteins that promote its survival and replication into the host cell cytosol. However, by introducing bacterial products into the host cytosol, L. pneumophila also activates cytosolic immunosurveillance pathways, thereby triggering robust proinflammatory responses that mediate the control of infection. Thus, the pulmonary cell types that L. pneumophila infects not only may act as an intracellular niche that facilitates its pathogenesis but also may contribute to the immune response against L. pneumophila. The identity of these host cells remains poorly understood. Here, we developed a strain of L. pneumophila producing a fusion protein consisting of -lactamase fused to the T4SS-translocated effector RalF, which allowed us to track cells injected by the T4SS. Our data reveal that alveolar macrophages and neutrophils both are the primary recipients of T4SS-translocated effectors and harbor viable L. pneumophila during pulmonary infection of mice. Moreover, both alveolar macrophages and neutrophils from infected mice produced tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-1␣ in response to T4SS-sufficient, but not T4SS-deficient, L. pneumophila. Collectively, our data suggest that alveolar macrophages and neutrophils are both an intracellular reservoir for L. pneumophila and a source of proinflammatory cytokines that contribute to the host immune response against L. pneumophila during pulmonary infection.
The previous decade has seen a tremendous increase in both the volume and survival benefit of ventricular assist device (VAD) implantation. 1-3 Though a growing proportion of implantations are intended as destination therapy, about 50% remain part of a bridge strategy, with patients either receiving VADs prior to listing as a bridge to decision (BTD) or after listing as a bridge to transplant (BTT). 4 This rapidly expanding population of VAD patients awaiting HT may face an epidemiological bottleneck as the volume of orthotopic heart transplantation (HT) continues to stagnate. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) previously granted VAD patients 1B status on the waiting
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