Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a major global infectious disease affecting millions of people annually. Human urinary copper (Cu) content is elevated during UTI caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). UPEC upregulates the expression of Cu efflux genes during clinical UTI in patients as an adaptive response to host-derived Cu. Whether Cu is mobilized to urine as a host response to UTI and its role in protection against UTI remain unresolved. To address these questions, we tested the hypothesis that Cu is a host effector mobilized to urine during UTI to limit bacterial growth. Our results reveal that Cu is mobilized to urine during UTI caused by the major uropathogens Proteus mirabilis and Klebsiella pneumoniae, in addition to UPEC, in humans. Ceruloplasmin, a Cu-containing ferroxidase, is found at higher levels in UTI urine than in healthy control urine and serves as the molecular source of urinary Cu during UTI. Our results demonstrate that ceruloplasmin decreases the bioavailability of iron in urine by a transferrin-dependent mechanism. Experimental UTI with UPEC in nonhuman primates recapitulates the increased urinary Cu content observed during clinical UTI. Furthermore, Cu-deficient mice are highly colonized by UPEC, indicating that Cu is involved in the limiting of bacterial growth within the urinary tract. Collectively, our results indicate that Cu is a host effector that is involved in protection against pathogen colonization of the urinary tract. Because urinary Cu levels are amenable to modulation, augmentation of the Cu-based host defense against UTI represents a novel approach to limiting bacterial colonization during UTI.
KEYWORDS UTI, urinary tract infection, uropathogenic E. coli, UPEC, copper, ceruloplasmin
U rinary tract infection (UTI) is an extremely common infectious disease in the UnitedStates and around the world (1, 2). In the United States alone, UTI leads to 11 million physician visits, 1.7 million emergency room visits, and 470,000 hospitalizations annually, with a direct cost of $3.5 billion (2). Infection of the urinary bladder (cystitis) is the most common form of UTI, whereas kidney infection (pyelonephritis), bacteremia, and sepsis are less common but more serious outcomes of UTI (3, 4). Women are four times as likely to develop UTI as men are because of anatomic differences (4). Children, the elderly, and individuals with catheters, anatomic and physiologic abnormalities of the urinary tract, uroliths, or diabetes mellitus are also highly susceptible to UTI (4).Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the etiological agent in ϳ85% of the cystitis cases in otherwise healthy people (3). Free-living, adherent, biofilm, and intracellular forms of UPEC are found in the urinary bladder (5, 6). UPEC utilizes multiple virulence factors, including type 1 fimbriae, P fimbriae, flagella, toxins, and iron acquisition systems, to cause UTI (2, 7). In addition to UPEC, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus