Manipulation of autophagy by bacteria for their own benefit

Repurposing Inhibitors of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase as Adjuvant Therapeutics for Bacterial Infections

The rise in antimicrobial resistance and the decline in new antibiotics has created a great need for novel approaches to treat drug resistant bacterial infections. Increasing the burden of antimicrobial resistance, bacterial virulence factors allow for survival within the host, where they can evade host killing and antimicrobial therapy within their intracellular niches. Repurposing host directed therapeutics has great potential for adjuvants to allow for more effective bacterial killing by the host and antimicrobials. To this end, phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors are FDA approved for cancer therapy, but also have potential to eliminate intracellular survival of pathogens. This review describes the PI3K pathway and its potential as an adjuvant target to treat bacterial infections more effectively.

A dynamically evolving war between autophagy and pathogenic microorganisms

Autophagy is an intracellular degradation process that maintains cellular homeostasis. It is essential for protecting organisms from environmental stress. Autophagy can help the host to eliminate invading pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. However, pathogens have evolved multiple strategies to interfere with autophagic signaling pathways or inhibit the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes to form autolysosomes. Moreover, host cell matrix degradation by different types of autophagy can be used for the proliferation and reproduction of pathogens. Thus, determining the roles and mechanisms of autophagy during pathogen infections will promote understanding of the mechanisms of pathogen‍‒‍host interactions and provide new strategies for the treatment of infectious diseases.

Role of Autophagy Machinery Dysregulation in Bacterial Chondronecrosis with Osteomyelitis (BCO)

Autophagy is a cell survival and homeostasis mechanism involving lysosomal degradation of cellular components and foreign bodies. It plays a role in bone homeostasis, skeletal diseases, and bacterial infections as both a cell-survival or cell-death pathway. This study sought to determine if autophagy played a role in bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO). BCO is a prominent cause of lameness in modern broilers and results from bacterial infection of mechanically stressed leg bone growth plates. The protein and gene expression of key autophagy machinery was analyzed in both normal and BCO-affected broilers using real-time qPCR and immunoblot, respectively. Gene expression showed a significant downregulation of key target signatures involved in every stage of autophagy in BCO-affected bone, such as ATG13, SQSTM1 (p62), ATG9B, ATG16L, ATG12, LC3C, and RAB7A. Additionally, protein expression for LC3 was also significantly lower in BCO. An in vitro study using human fetal osteoblast cells challenged with BCO isolate, Staphylococcus agnetis 908, showed a similar dysregulation of autophagy machinery along with a significant decrease in cell viability. When autophagy was inhibited via 3-methyladenine or chloroquine, comparable decreases in cell viability were seen along with dysregulation of autophagy machinery. Together, these results are the first to implicate autophagy machinery dysregulation in the pathology of BCO.

The Role of Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy in Hepatitis C Virus-Induced Pathogenesis

Lysosome incorporate and degrade proteins in a process known as autophagy. There are three types of autophagy; macroautophagy, microautophagy, and chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA). Although autophagy is considered a nonselective degradation process, CMA is known as a selective degradation pathway. All proteins internalized in the lysosome via CMA contain a pentapeptide KFERQ-motif, also known as a CMA-targeting motif, which is necessary for selectivity. CMA directly delivers a substrate protein into the lysosome lumen using the cytosolic chaperone HSC70 and the lysosomal receptor LAMP-2A for degradation. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5A protein interacts with hepatocyte-nuclear factor 1α (HNF-1α) together with HSC70 and promotes the lysosomal degradation of HNF-1α via CMA, resulting in HCV-induced pathogenesis. HCV NS5A promotes recruitment of HSC70 to the substrate protein HNF-1α. HCV NS5A plays a crucial role in HCV-induced CMA. Further investigations of HCV NS5A-interacting proteins containing CMA-targeting motifs may help to elucidate HCV-induced pathogenesis.

Mycobacterium bovis induces mitophagy to suppress host xenophagy for its intracellular survival

Mitophagy is a selective autophagy mechanism for eliminating damaged mitochondria and plays a crucial role in the immune evasion of some viruses and bacteria. Here, we report that Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) utilizes host mitophagy to suppress host xenophagy to enhance its intracellular survival. M. bovis is the causative agent of animal tuberculosis and human tuberculosis. In the current study, we show that M. bovis induces mitophagy in macrophages, and the induction of mitophagy is impaired by PINK1 knockdown, indicating the PINK1-PRKN/Parkin pathway is involved in the mitophagy induced by M. bovis. Moreover, the survival of M. bovis in macrophages and the lung bacterial burden of mice are restricted by the inhibition of mitophagy and are enhanced by the induction of mitophagy. Confocal microscopy analysis reveals that induction of mitophagy suppresses host xenophagy by competitive utilization of p-TBK1. Overall, our results suggest that induction of mitophagy enhances M. bovis growth while inhibition of mitophagy improves growth restriction. The findings provide a new insight for understanding the intracellular survival mechanism of M. bovis in the host.

Abbreviations: BMDM: mouse bone marrow-derived macrophage; BNIP3: BCL2/adenovirus E1B interacting protein 3; BNIP3L/NIX: BCL2/adenovirus E1B interacting protein 3-like; BCL2L13: BCL2-like 13 (apoptosis facilitator); CCCP: carbonyl cyanide m-cholorophenyl hydrazone; FUNDC1: FUN14 domain-containing 1; FKBP8: FKBP506 binding protein 8; HCV: hepatitis C virus; HBV: hepatitis B virus; IFN: interferon; L. monocytogenes: Listeria monocytogenes; M. bovis: Mycobacterium bovis; Mtb: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Mdivi-1: mitochondrial division inhibitor 1; PINK1: PTEN-induced putative kinase 1; TBK1: TANK-binding kinase 1; TUFM: Tu translation elongation factor, mitochondrial; TEM: transmission electron microscopy

Invasive Pathobionts Contribute to Colon Cancer Initiation by Counterbalancing Epithelial Antimicrobial Responses

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Microbiota dysbiosis and mucosa-associated bacteria are involved in colorectal cancer progression. We hypothesize that an interaction between virulent pathobionts and epithelial defense promotes tumorigenesis.

METHODS

Chemical-induced CRC mouse model was treated with antibiotics at various phases. Colonic tissues and fecal samples were collected in a time-serial mode and analyzed by gene microarray and 16S rRNA sequencing. Intraepithelial bacteria were isolated using a gentamicin resistance assay, and challenged in epithelial cultures.

RESULTS

Our study showed that antibiotic treatment at midphase but not early or late phase reduced mouse tumor burden, suggesting a time-specific host-microbe interplay. A unique antimicrobial transcriptome profile showing an inverse relationship between autophagy and oxidative stress genes was correlated with a transient surge in microbial diversity and virulence emergence in mouse stool during cancer initiation. Gavage with fimA/fimH/htrA-expressing invasive Escherichia coli isolated from colonocytes increased tumor burden in recipient mice, whereas inoculation of bacteria deleted of htrA or triple genes did not. The invasive E.coli suppressed epithelial autophagy activity through reduction of microtubule-associated protein 1 light-chain 3 transcripts and caused dual oxidase 2-dependent free radical overproduction and tumor cell hyperproliferation. A novel alternating spheroid culture model was developed for sequential bacterial challenge to address the long-term changes in host-microbe interaction for chronic tumor growth. Epithelial cells with single bacterial encounter showed a reduction in transcript levels of autophagy genes while those sequentially challenged with invasive E.coli showed heightened autophagy gene expression to eliminate intracellular microbes, implicating that bacteria-dependent cell hyperproliferation could be terminated at late phases. Finally, the presence of bacterial htrA and altered antimicrobial gene expression were observed in human colorectal cancer specimens.

CONCLUSIONS

Invasive pathobionts contribute to cancer initiation during a key time frame by counterbalancing autophagy and oxidative stress in the colonic epithelium. Monitoring gut microbiota and antimicrobial patterns may help identify the window of opportunity for intervention with bacterium-targeted precision medicine.

Nuclear Receptors as Autophagy-Based Antimicrobial Therapeutics

Autophagy is an intracellular process that targets intracellular pathogens for lysosomal degradation. Autophagy is tightly controlled at transcriptional and post-translational levels. Nuclear receptors (NRs) are a family of transcriptional factors that regulate the expression of gene sets involved in, for example, metabolic and immune homeostasis. Several NRs show promise as host-directed anti-infectives through the modulation of autophagy activities by their natural ligands or small molecules (agonists/antagonists). Here, we review the roles and mechanisms of NRs (vitamin D receptors, estrogen receptors, estrogen-related receptors, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors) in linking immunity and autophagy during infection. We also discuss the potential of emerging NRs (REV-ERBs, retinoic acid receptors, retinoic acid-related orphan receptors, liver X receptors, farnesoid X receptors, and thyroid hormone receptors) as candidate antimicrobials. The identification of novel roles and mechanisms for NRs will enable the development of autophagy-adjunctive therapeutics for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

Mitophagy and Innate Immunity in Infection

Mitochondria have several quality control mechanisms by which they maintain cellular homeostasis and ensure that the molecular machinery is protected from stress. Mitophagy, selective autophagy of mitochondria, promotes mitochondrial quality control by inducing clearance of damaged mitochondria via the autophagic machinery. Accumulating evidence suggests that mitophagy is modulated by various microbial components in an attempt to affect the innate immune response to infection. In addition, mitophagy plays a key role in the regulation of inflammatory signaling, and mitochondrial danger signals such as mitochondrial DNA translocated into the cytosol can lead to exaggerated inflammatory responses. In this review, we present current knowledge on the functional aspects of mitophagy and its crosstalk with innate immune signaling during infection. A deeper understanding of the role of mitophagy could facilitate the development of more effective therapeutic strategies against various infections.

Bacteria Exploit Autophagy For Their Own Benefit

Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway to clear long-lived proteins, protein aggregates, and damaged organelles. Certain microorganisms can be eliminated by an autophagic degradation process termed xenophagy. However, many pathogens deploy highly evolved mechanisms to evade autophagic degradation. What is more, series of pathogens have developed different strategies to exploit autophagy to ensure their survival. These bacteria could induce autophagy and/or prevent autophagosomes fusion with lysosomes through secreted effector proteins or utilizing host components, thereby maintaining the localization of the bacteria within the autophagosomes where they replicate. Here, we review the current knowledge of the mechanisms developed by the bacteria to benefit from autophagy for their survival.

PI3K/Akt-Beclin1 signaling pathway positively regulates phagocytosis and negatively mediates NF-κB-dependent inflammation in Staphylococcus aureus-infected macrophages

Although autophagy and phagocytosis are involved in the regulation of host inflammatory response to bacterial infection in macrophages, the underlying mechanisms have not been completely elucidated. In the present study, we found that infecting RAW264.7 macrophages with Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) activated multiple signaling pathways including phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt), nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), and Rac1, as well as triggered autophagy. LY294002, a specific PI3K activity inhibitor, significantly decreased autophagy and phagocytosis of macrophages upon S. aureus infection. Similarly, knockdown of Beclin1 by specific siRNA significantly inhibited autophagy and phagocytosis of S. aureus-infected macrophages. Additionally, we showed that although administration of Beclin1 siRNA had no effects on phosphorylation of Akt (p-Akt), inhibition of PI3K activity by LY294002 significantly decreased the expression of Beclin1, suggesting that Beclin1 is a downstream molecular of PI3K. Furthermore, inhibition of autophagy significantly increased the production of NF-κB-dependent TNFα/IL-1β in S. aureus-infected macrophages. Collectively, these findings demonstrated, for the first time, that the PI3K/Akt-Beclin1 signaling pathway positively regulates phagocytosis and negatively mediates NF-κB-dependent inflammation in S. aureus-infected macrophages.

Metformin induced autophagy in diabetes mellitus - Tuberculosis co-infection patients: A case study

Metformin (MET) is a potential combination drug to elevate anti-TB efficacy. However, the clinical effect, especially smear reversion, during metformin applied with anti-tuberculosis and insulin in patients with type 2 DM newly TB co-infection were remain unknown. An observational clinical study was done in DM newly TB co-infection outpatients at Surabaya Paru Hospital. This study evaluated MET therapy, at least 2 months, accompanying with insulin and anti-TB regimens and compared to comparison group. The smear, microtubule-associated Protein1 Light Chain 3B (MAP1LC3B) level, as the presentation of autophagy, Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) level, Interferon (IFN)-γ and Interleukin (IL)-10 levels were evaluated twice. From 42 participants in this study, 22 participants of observation group that received additional MET therapy, 100% had sputum smear reversion after 2-months intensive phase of anti-TB therapy. Whereas 25% of 20 participants of comparison group did not undergo reversion inserts sputum smear. As conclusion, MET has the potential of being an additive combination therapy to enhance the bactericidal effect of anti-TB on DM-TB coinfection patients. Metformin enhances the effects of anti-TB and insulin therapy in increasing the smear reversion by increasing autophagy.

Anti-endotoxin mechanism of the KW4 peptide in inflammation in RAW 264.7 cells induced by LTA and drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus 1630

Drug-resistant microorganism infections cause serious disease and can lead to mortality and morbidity. In particular, Staphylococcus aureus induces pyrogenic and toxigenic infections, and drug-resistance occurs rapidly. Multidrug-resistant S. aureus, such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus, can also cause immunodeficiency and immune deficiency syndrome from lipoteichoic acid. However, antimicrobial peptides, such as KW4, have strong antimicrobial activity, low cytotoxicity, and high neutralization activity against endotoxin substances from Gram-negative bacteria. The objective of this study was to use a synthetic KW4 antimicrobial peptide to evaluate the inhibition of drug-resistance development, antimicrobial activity, and neutralizing activity in S. aureus Gram-positive bacteria. The KW4 peptide showed strong antimicrobial activity against drug-resistant S. aureus strains and significantly increased the anti-neutralizing activity of lipoteichoic acid in S. aureus 1630 drug-resistant bacteria. In addition, S. aureus ATCC 29213 did not develop resistance to KW4 as with other antibiotic drugs. These results suggest that the KW4 peptide is an effective antibiotic and anti-neutralizing agent against multidrug-resistant S. aureus strains.

Mir-30d increases intracellular survival of Helicobacter pylori through inhibition of autophagy pathway

AIM

To determine if mir-30d inhibits the autophagy response to Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) invasion and increases H. pylori intracellular survival.

METHODS

The expression of mir-30d was detected by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and autophagy level was examined by transmission electron microscopy, western blot, and GFP-LC3 puncta assay in human AGS cells and GES-1 cells. Luciferase reporter assay was applied to confirm the specificity of mir-30d regulation on the expression of several core molecules involved in autophagy pathway. The expression of multiple core proteins were analyzed at both the mRNA and protein level, and the intracellular survival of H. pylori after different treatments was detected by gentamicin protection assay.

RESULTS

Autophagy level was increased in AGS and GES-1 cells in response to H. pylori infection, which was accompanied by upregulation of mir-30d expression (P < 0.05, vs no H. pylori infection). In the two gastric epithelial cell lines, mimic mir-30d was found to repress the autophagy process, whereas mir-30d inhibitor increased autophagy response to H. pylori invasion. mir-30d mimic decreased the luciferase activity of wild type reporter plasmids carrying the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of all five tested genes (ATG2B, ATG5, ATG12, BECN1, and BNIP3L), whereas it had no effect on the mutant reporter plasmids. These five genes are core genes of autophagy pathway, and their expression was reduced significantly after mir-30d mimic transfection (P < 0.05, vs control cells without mir-30d mimic treatment). Mir-30d mimic transfection and direct inhibition of autophagy increased the intracellular survival of H. pylori in AGS cells.

CONCLUSION

Mir-30d increases intracellular survival of H. pylori in gastric epithelial cells through inhibition of multiple core proteins in the autophagy pathway.

Haemophilus influenzae triggers autophagy in HEp-2 cells

The MAP-LC3 system regulates the intracellular formation of autophagy-associated vacuoles. These vacuoles contain the LC3 protein; thus it has been utilized as a marker to identify autophagosomes. The aim of our study was to investigate whether Haemophilus influenzae strains and their supernatants could activate autophagy in human larynx carcinoma cell line (HEp-2). We demonstrate that higher expression of the LC3B-II protein was induced, particularly by nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) 49766 and by supernatants, containing <50 kDa proteins, of both strains. Ultrastructural studies demonstrate vacuoles with a double membrane and/or membrane material inside, showing similar features to those of autophagic vacuoles. Together, our findings demonstrate that H. influenzae strains and their supernatants trigger an autophagic process.

Nucleic acid sensing and beyond: virtues and vices of high-mobility group box 1

High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) was first described as an architectural chromatin-binding protein. Today, a wealth of evidence indicates that this protein is very versatile and serves an amazing assortment of roles in the nucleus, cytoplasm and extracellular milieu. As a result, HMGB1 is fast becoming recognized as a key regulator of protective and pathological immune responses. Whilst acknowledging the many functions of HMGB1 and its family members, we focus this review on their role as broad effectors of immune responses mediated by nucleic acids. In addition, we touch upon the recent progress in determining the in vivo role of HMGB1 as revealed by the study of mice conditionally null for the Hmgb1 gene.

Conditional ablation of HMGB1 in mice reveals its protective function against endotoxemia and bacterial infection

High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a DNA-binding protein abundantly expressed in the nucleus that has gained much attention for its regulation of immunity and inflammation. Despite this, whether and how HMGB1 contributes to protective and/or pathological responses in vivo is unclear. In this study, we constructed Hmgb1-floxed (Hmgb1(f)(/f)) mice to achieve the conditional inactivation of the gene in a cell- and tissue-specific manner by crossing these mice with an appropriate Cre recombinase transgenic strain. Interestingly, although mice with HMGB1 ablation in myeloid cells apparently develop normally, they are more sensitive to endotoxin shock compared with control mice, which is accompanied by massive macrophage cell death. Furthermore, these mice also show an increased sensitivity to Listeria monocytogenes infection. We also provide evidence that the loss of HMGB1 in macrophages results in the suppression of autophagy, which is commonly induced by lipopolysaccharide stimulation or L. monocytogenes infection. Thus, intracellular HMGB1 contributes to the protection of mice from endotoxemia and bacterial infection by mediating autophagy in macrophages. These newly generated HMGB1 conditional knockout mice will serve a useful tool with which to study further the in vivo role of this protein in various pathological conditions.

Autophagy controls an intrinsic host defense to bacteria by promoting epithelial cell survival: a murine model

Cell death is a critical host response to regulate the fate of bacterial infections, innate immune responses, and ultimately, disease outcome. Shigellaspp. invade and colonize gut epithelium in human and nonhuman primates but adult mice are naturally resistant to intra-gastric Shigella infection. In this study, however, we found Shigella could invade the terminal ileum of the mouse small intestine by 1 hour after infection and be rapidly cleared within 24 h. These early phase events occurred shortly after oral infection resulting in epithelial shedding, degranulation of Paneth cells, and cell death in the intestine. During this process, autophagy proceeded without any signs of inflammation. In contrast, blocking autophagy in epithelial cells enhanced host cell death, leading to tissue destruction and to inflammation, suggesting that autophagic flow relieves cellular stress associated with host cell death and inflammation. Herein we propose a new concept of “epithelial barrier turnover” as a general intrinsic host defense mechanism that increases survival of host cells and inhibits inflammation against enteric bacterial infections, which is regulated by autophagy.

Burkholderia cenocepacia J2315 escapes to the cytosol and actively subverts autophagy in human macrophages

Selective autophagy functions to specifically degrade cellular cargo tagged by ubiquitination, including bacteria. Strains of the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) are opportunistic pathogens that cause life-threatening infections in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). While there is evidence that defective macrophage autophagy in a mouse model of CF can influence B. cenocepacia susceptibility, there have been no comprehensive studies on how this bacterium is sensed and targeted by the host autophagy response in human macrophages. Here, we describe the intracellular life cycle of B. cenocepacia J2315 and its interaction with the autophagy pathway in human cells. Electron and confocal microscopy analyses demonstrate that the invading bacteria interact transiently with the endocytic pathway before escaping to the cytosol. This escape triggers theselective autophagy pathway, and the recruitment of ubiquitin, the ubiquitin-binding adaptors p62 and NDP52 and the autophagosome membrane-associated protein LC3B, to the bacterial vicinity. However, despite recruitment of these key autophagy pathway effectors, B. cenocepacia blocks autophagosome completion and replicates in the host cytosol. We find that a pre-infection increase in cellular autophagy flux can significantly inhibit B. cenocepacia replication and that lower autophagy flux in macrophages from immunocompromised CGD patients could contribute to increased B. cenocepacia susceptibility, identifying autophagy manipulation as a potential therapeutic approach to reduce bacterial burden in B. cenocepacia infections.

Evolutionary analysis of Burkholderia pseudomallei identifies putative novel virulence genes, including a microbial regulator of host cell autophagy

Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, contains a large pathogen genome (7.2 Mb) with ∼2,000 genes of putative or unknown function. Interactions with potential hosts and environmental factors may induce rapid adaptations in these B. pseudomallei genes, which can be discerned through evolutionary analysis of multiple B. pseudomallei genomes. Here we show that several previously uncharacterized B. pseudomallei genes bearing genetic signatures of rapid adaptation (positive selection) can induce diverse cellular phenotypes when expressed in mammalian cells. Notably, several of these phenotypes are plausibly related to virulence, including multinuclear giant cell formation, apoptosis, and autophagy induction. Specifically, we show that BPSS0180, a type VI cluster-associated gene, is capable of inducing autophagy in both phagocytic and nonphagocytic mammalian cells. Following infection of macrophages, a B. pseudomallei mutant disrupted in BPSS0180 exhibited significantly decreased colocalization with LC3 and impaired intracellular survival; these phenotypes were rescued by introduction of an intact BPSS0180 gene. The results suggest that BPSS0180 may be a novel inducer of host cell autophagy that contributes to B. pseudomallei intracellular growth. More generally, our study highlights the utility of applying evolutionary principles to microbial genomes to identify novel virulence genes.

Inflammasome components coordinate autophagy and pyroptosis as macrophage responses to infection

When microbes contaminate the macrophage cytoplasm, leukocytes undergo a proinflammatory death that is initiated by nucleotide-binding-domain-, leucine-rich-repeat-containing proteins (NLR proteins) that bind and activate caspase-1. We report that these inflammasome components also regulate autophagy, a vesicular pathway to eliminate cytosolic debris. In response to infection with flagellate Legionella pneumophila, C57BL/6J mouse macrophages equipped with caspase-1 and the NLR proteins NAIP5 and NLRC4 stimulated autophagosome turnover. A second trigger of inflammasome assembly, K(+) efflux, also rapidly activated autophagy in macrophages that produced caspase-1. Autophagy protects infected macrophages from pyroptosis, since caspase-1-dependent cell death occurred more frequently when autophagy was dampened pharmacologically by either 3-methyladenine or an inhibitor of the Atg4 protease. Accordingly, in addition to coordinating pyroptosis, both (pro-) caspase-1 protein and NLR components of inflammasomes equip macrophages to recruit autophagy, a disposal pathway that raises the threshold of contaminants necessary to trigger proinflammatory leukocyte death.

IMPORTANCE

An exciting development in the innate-immunity field is the recognition that macrophages enlist autophagy to protect their cytoplasm from infection. Nutrient deprivation has long been known to induce autophagy; how infection triggers this disposal pathway is an active area of research. Autophagy is encountered by many of the intracellular pathogens that are known to trigger pyroptosis, an inflammatory cell death initiated when nucleotide-binding-domain-, leucine-rich-repeat-containing proteins (NLR proteins) activate caspase-1 within inflammasome complexes. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that NLR proteins and caspase-1 also coordinate autophagy as a barrier to cytosolic infection. By exploiting classical bacterial and mouse genetics and kinetic assays of autophagy, we demonstrate for the first time that, when confronted with cytosolic contamination, primary mouse macrophages rely not only on the NLR proteins NAIP5 and NLRC4 but also on (pro-)caspase-1 protein to mount a rapid autophagic response that wards off proinflammatory cell death.

Autophagy: a multifaceted intracellular system for bulk and selective recycling

Plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to recycle intracellular constituents. One gaining in appreciation is autophagy, which involves specialized vesicles engulfing and delivering unwanted cytoplasmic material to the vacuole for breakdown. Central to this process is the ubiquitin-fold protein autophagy (ATG)-8, which becomes tethered to the developing autophagic membranes by lipidation. Here, we review data showing that the ATG8 moiety provides a docking site not only for proteins that help shape the enclosing vesicles and promote their fusion with the tonoplast, but also for a host of receptors that recruit appropriate autophagic cargo. The identity of these receptors has dramatically altered the view of autophagy as being a relatively nonspecific mechanism to one that may selectively sequester aggregated proteins, protein complexes, organelles, and even invading pathogens.

Autophagy in immunity: implications in etiology of autoimmune/autoinflammatory diseases

Autophagy is now emerging as a spotlight in trafficking events that activate innate and adaptive immunity. It facilitates innate pathogen detection and antigen presentation, as well as pathogen clearance and lymphocyte homeostasis. In this review, we first summarize new insights into its functions in immunity, which underlie its associations with autoimmunity. As some lines of evidence are emerging to support its role in autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases, we further discuss whether and how it affects autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus and multiple sclerosis, as well as autoinflammatory diseases, such as Crohn disease and vitiligo.

LC3-Associated Phagocytosis (LAP): Connections with Host Autophagy

Autophagy is an intracellular degradative process with a number of roles, one of which can be the protection of eukaryotic cells from invading microbes. Microtubule-associated protein light-chain 3 (LC3) is a key autophagy-related protein that is recruited to the double-membrane autophagosome responsible for sequestering material intended for delivery to lysosomes. GFP-LC3 is widely used as a marker of autophagosome formation as denoted by the formation of green puncta when viewed by fluorescence microscopy. Recently, it has been demonstrated that LC3 can be recruited to other membranes including single-membrane phagosomes, in a process termed LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP). Thus, the observation of green puncta in cells can no longer, by itself, be taken as evidence of autophagy. This review will clarify those features of LAP which serve to distinguish it from autophagy and that make connections with host autophagic responses in terms of infection by microbial pathogens. More specifically, it will refer to concurrent studies of the mechanism by which LAP is triggered in comparison to autophagy.

Lipopolysaccharide induction of autophagy is associated with enhanced bactericidal activity in Dictyostelium discoideum

Innate immune cells respond to microbial invaders using pattern recognition receptors that detect conserved microbial patterns. Among the cellular processes stimulated downstream of pattern recognition machinery is the initiation of autophagy, which plays protective roles against intracellular microbes. We have shown recently that Dictyostelium discoideum, which takes up bacteria for nutritive purposes, may employ pattern recognition machinery to respond to bacterial prey, as D. discoideum cells upregulate bactericidal activity upon stimulation by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Here we extend these findings, showing that LPS treatment leads to induction of autophagosomal maturation in cells responding to the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. Cells treated with the autophagy-inducing drug rapamycin clear internalized bacteria at an accelerated rate, while LPS-enhanced clearance of bacteria is reduced in cells deficient for the autophagy-related genes atg1 and atg9. These findings link microbial pattern recognition with autophagy in the social amoeba D. discoideum.

Bacterial autophagy: restriction or promotion of bacterial replication?

In order to survive inside the host cell, bacterial pathogens have evolved a variety of mechanisms to avoid or interfere with innate immune defenses. Several reports have shown that bacterial pathogens are targeted by the autophagy pathway, and autophagy has been increasingly recognized as an important defense mechanism to clear intracellular microbes. However, it now appears that some bacterial pathogens have evolved mechanisms to evade autophagic recognition or even co-opt the autophagy machinery for their own benefit as a replicative niche. A complete understanding of bacterial autophagy in vivo shall be critical to exploit autophagy and its therapeutic potential.

Intracellular Staphylococcus aureus: live-in and let die

Staphylococcus aureus uses a plethora of virulence factors to accommodate a diversity of niches in its human host. Aside from the classical manifestations of S. aureus-induced diseases, the pathogen also invades and survives within mammalian host cells.The survival strategies of the pathogen are as diverse as strains or host cell types used. S. aureus is able to replicate in the phagosome or freely in the cytoplasm of its host cells. It escapes the phagosome of professional and non-professional phagocytes, subverts autophagy, induces cell death mechanisms such as apoptosis and pyronecrosis, and even can induce anti-apoptotic programs in phagocytes. The focus of this review is to present a guide to recent research outlining the variety of intracellular fates of S. aureus.

Mycobacterial induction of autophagy varies by species and occurs independently of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibition

The interaction of host cells with mycobacteria is complex and can lead to multiple outcomes ranging from bacterial clearance to latent infection. Although many factors are involved, the mammalian autophagy pathway is recognized as a determinant that can influence the course of infection. Intervention aimed at utilizing autophagy to clear infection requires an examination of the autophagy and signal transduction induced by mycobacteria under native conditions. With both pathogenic and non-pathogenic mycobacteria, we show that infection correlates with an increase in the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activity indicating that autophagy induction by mycobacteria occurs in an mTOR-independent manner. Analysis of Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), which respectively induce high and low autophagy responses, indicates that lipid material is capable of inducing both autophagy and mTOR signaling. Although mycobacterial infection potently induces mTOR activity, we confirm that bacterial viability can be reduced by rapamycin treatment. In addition, our work demonstrates that BCG can reduce autophagy responses to M. smegmatis suggesting that specific mechanisms are used by BCG to minimize host cell autophagy. We conclude that autophagy induction and mTOR signaling take place concurrently during mycobacterial infection and that host autophagy responses to any given mycobacterium stem from multiple factors, including the presence of activating macromolecules and inhibitory mechanisms.

Host cell autophagy in immune response to zoonotic infections

Autophagy is a fundamental homeostatic process in which cytoplasmic targets are sequestered within double-membraned autophagosomes and subsequently delivered to lysosomes for degradation. Accumulating evidence supports the pivotal role of autophagy in host defense against intracellular pathogens implicating both innate and adaptive immunity. Many of these pathogens cause common zoonotic infections worldwide. The induction of the autophagic machinery by innate immune receptors signaling, such as TLRs, NOD1/2, and p62/SQSTM1 in antigen-presenting cells results in inhibition of survival and elimination of invading pathogens. Furthermore, Th1 cytokines induce the autophagic process, whereas autophagy also contributes to antigen processing and MHC class II presentation, linking innate to adaptive immunity. However, several pathogens have developed strategies to avoid autophagy or exploit autophagic machinery to their advantage. This paper focuses on the role of host cell autophagy in the regulation of immune response against intracellular pathogens, emphasizing on selected bacterial and protozoan zoonoses.