Further Insight into the Mechanism of Human PMN Lysis following Phagocytosis of Staphylococcus aureus

The Relative Importance of Cytotoxins Produced by Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Strain USA300 for Causing Human PMN Destruction

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a prominent Gram-positive bacterial pathogen that expresses numerous cytotoxins known to target human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs or neutrophils). These include leukocidin G/H (LukGH, also known as LukAB), the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), γ-hemolysin A/B (HlgAB), γ-hemolysin B/C (HlgBC), leukocidin E/D (LukED), α-hemolysin (Hla), and the phenol-soluble modulin-α peptides (PSMα). However, the relative contribution of each of these cytotoxins in causing human PMN lysis is not clear. In this study, we used a library of cytotoxin deletion mutants in the clinically relevant methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolate LAC (strain ST8:USA300) to determine the relative importance of each for causing human PMN lysis upon exposure to extracellular components as well as following phagocytosis. Using flow cytometry to examine plasma membrane permeability and assays quantifying lactose dehydrogenase release, we found that PVL was the dominant extracellular factor causing human PMN lysis produced by USA300. In contrast, LukGH was the most important cytotoxin causing human PMN lysis immediately following phagocytosis with contributions from the other bicomponent leukocidins only observed at later time points. These results not only clarify the relative importance of different USA300 cytotoxins for causing human PMN destruction but also demonstrate how two apparently redundant virulence factors play distinctive roles in promoting S. aureus pathogenesis.

Outsmarting Pathogens with Antibody Engineering

There is growing interest in identifying antibodies that protect against infectious diseases, especially for high-risk individuals and pathogens for which no vaccine is yet available. However, pathogens that manifest as opportunistic or latent infections express complex arrays of virulence-associated proteins and are adept at avoiding immune responses. Some pathogens have developed strategies to selectively destroy antibodies, whereas others create decoy epitopes that trick the host immune system into generating antibodies that are at best nonprotective and at worst enhance pathogenesis. Antibody engineering strategies can thwart these efforts by accessing conserved neutralizing epitopes, generating Fc domains that resist capture or degradation and even accessing pathogens hidden inside cells. Design of pathogen-resistant antibodies can enhance protection and guide development of vaccine immunogens against these complex pathogens. Here, we discuss general strategies for design of antibodies resistant to specific pathogen defense mechanisms.

Microbes and the fate of neutrophils

Neutrophils or polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) are an important component of innate host defense. These phagocytic leukocytes are recruited to infected tissues and kill invading microbes. There are several general characteristics of neutrophils that make them highly effective as antimicrobial cells. First, there is tremendous daily production and turnover of granulocytes in healthy adults-typically 1011 per day. The vast majority (~95%) of these cells are neutrophils. In addition, neutrophils are mobilized rapidly in response to chemotactic factors and are among the first leukocytes recruited to infected tissues. Most notably, neutrophils contain and/or produce an abundance of antimicrobial molecules. Many of these antimicrobial molecules are toxic to host cells and can destroy host tissues. Thus, neutrophil activation and turnover are highly regulated processes. To that end, aged neutrophils undergo apoptosis constitutively, a process that contains antimicrobial function and proinflammatory capacity. Importantly, apoptosis facilitates nonphlogistic turnover of neutrophils and removal by macrophages. This homeostatic process is altered by interaction with microbes and their products, as well as host proinflammatory molecules. Microbial pathogens can delay neutrophil apoptosis, accelerate apoptosis following phagocytosis, or cause neutrophil cytolysis. Here, we review these processes and provide perspective on recent studies that have potential to impact this paradigm.

Human neutrophils ≠ murine neutrophils: Does it matter?

Human and murine neutrophils differ with respect to representation in blood, receptors, nuclear morphology, signaling pathways, granule proteins, NADPH oxidase regulation, magnitude of oxidant and hypochlorous acid production, and their repertoire of secreted molecules. These differences often matter and can undermine extrapolations from murine studies to clinical care, as illustrated by several failed therapeutic interventions based on mouse models. Likewise, coevolution of host and pathogen undercuts fidelity of murine models of neutrophil-predominant human infections. However, murine systems that accurately model the human condition can yield insights into human biology difficult to obtain otherwise. The challenge for investigators who employ murine systems is to distinguish models from pretenders and to know when the mouse provides biologically accurate insights. Testing with human neutrophils observations made in murine systems would provide a safeguard but is not always possible. At a minimum, studies that use exclusively murine neutrophils should have accurate titles supported by data and restrict conclusions to murine neutrophils and not encompass all neutrophils. For now, the integration of evidence from studies of neutrophil biology performed using valid murine models coupled with testing in vitro of human neutrophils combines the best of both approaches to elucidate the mysteries of human neutrophil biology.