Inhibition of ceramide de novo synthesis by myriocin produces the double effect of reducing pathological inflammation and exerting antifungal activity against A. fumigatus airways infection

BACKGROUND

Fungal infections develop in pulmonary chronic inflammatory diseases such as asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Cystic Fibrosis (CF). The available antifungal drugs may fail to eradicate fungal pathogens, that can invade the lungs and vessels and spread by systemic circulation taking advantage of defective lung immunity. An increased rate of sphingolipid de novo synthesis, leading to ceramide accumulation, was demonstrated in CF and COPD inflamed lungs. The inhibitor of sphingolipid synthesis myriocin reduces inflammation and ameliorates the response against bacterial airway infection in CF mice. Myriocin also inhibits sphingolipid synthesis in fungi and exerts a powerful fungistatic effect.

METHODS

We treated Aspergillus fumigatus infected airway epithelial cells with myriocin and we administered myriocin-loaded nanocarriers to A. fumigatus infected mice lung.

RESULTS

We demonstrate here that de novo synthesized ceramide mediates the inflammatory response induced by A. fumigatus infection in airway epithelia. CF epithelial cells are chronically inflamed and defective in killing internalized conidia. Myriocin treatment reduced ceramide increase and inflammatory mediator release whereas it upregulated HO1 and NOD2, allowing the recovery of a functional killing of conidia in these cells. Myriocin-loaded nanocarriers, intratracheally administered to mice, significantly reduced both the inflammatory response induced by A. fumigatus pulmonary challenge and fungal lung invasion.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that inhibition of sphingolipid synthesis can be envisaged as a dual anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal therapy in patients suffering from chronic lung inflammation with compromised immunity.

GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE

Myriocin represents a powerful agent for inflammatory diseases and fungal infection.

Phagocytic and signaling innate immune receptors: are they dysregulated in cystic fibrosis in the fight against Pseudomonas aeruginosa?

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease that affects mainly the lung and the digestive system, causing progressive disability and organ failure. The most prevalent CFTR mutation dF508 (which constitutes 70% of all mutations) results in an incorrect targeting of the CFTR molecule to the membrane. It is now a well-accepted concept that mucosal innate immune responses are dysregulated in cystic fibrosis through a cycle of infectious and inflammatory episodes. However, although much work has focused on the late consequences of chronic lung inflammation in CF, very little is known on the early events leading to infection and colonization, such as that of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P.a). We review here the involvement of a range of innate phagocytic/signaling receptors in the control of this pathogen (mannose receptor, complement receptor-3, Toll-like receptors, etc.) and evaluate the possibility that the activity of some of these receptors may be dysregulated in cystic fibrosis, potentially explaining the florid infections encountered in this disease.

Cryptococcus gattii is killed by dendritic cells, but evades adaptive immunity by failing to induce dendritic cell maturation

During adaptive immunity to pathogens, dendritic cells (DCs) capture, kill, process, and present microbial Ags to T cells. Ag presentation is accompanied by DC maturation driven by appropriate costimulatory signals. However, current understanding of the intricate regulation of these processes remains limited. Cryptococcus gattii, an emerging fungal pathogen in the Pacific Northwest of Canada and the United States, fails to stimulate an effective immune response in otherwise healthy hosts leading to morbidity or death. Because immunity to fungal pathogens requires intact cell-mediated immunity initiated by DCs, we asked whether C. gattii causes dysregulation of DC functions. C. gattii was efficiently bound and internalized by human monocyte-derived DCs, trafficked to late phagolysosomes, and killed. Yet, even with this degree of DC activation, the organism evaded pathways leading to DC maturation. Despite the ability to recognize and kill C. gattii, immature DCs failed to mature; there was no increased expression of MHC class II, CD86, CD83, CD80, and CCR7, or decrease of CD11c and CD32, which resulted in suboptimal T cell responses. Remarkably, no increase in TNF-α was observed in the presence of C. gattii. However, addition of recombinant TNF-α or stimulation that led to TNF-α production restored DC maturation and restored T cell responses. Thus, despite early killing, C. gattii evades DC maturation, providing a potential explanation for its ability to infect immunocompetent individuals. We have also established that DCs retain the ability to recognize and kill C. gattii without triggering TNF-α, suggesting independent or divergent activation pathways among essential DC functions.

Functional phenotypes of macrophages and the M1-M2 polarization concept. Part I. Proinflammatory phenotype

Current concepts concerning the main functional phenotypes of mononuclear phagocytes are systematized, molecular mechanisms of their formation are considered, and the functional polarization concept of macrophages is critically analyzed. Mechanisms of macrophage priming activation mediated by pattern recognition receptors TLR, NLR, RLR, and CLR are described, and the features of each phenotype acquired via various pattern recognition receptors are emphasized. It is concluded that there is a huge variety of proinflammatory phenotypes from highly to poorly polarized ones. Thus the widespread notion of "classical activation" of macrophage concerns just a particular case of proinflammatory phenotype formation.

Toll-like receptors in the host defense against Pseudomonas aeruginosa respiratory infection and cystic fibrosis

TLRs function in innate immunity by detecting conserved structures present in bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Although TLRs do not necessarily distinguish pathogenic organisms from commensals, in the context of compromised innate immunity and combined with pathogens' effector molecules, TLRs drive the host response to the organism. This review will discuss the evidence and role(s) of TLRs in the response to the opportunistic bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, as it relates to respiratory infection and CF, in which innate immune mechanisms are indeed compromised. Outer membrane lipoproteins, LPS, flagellin, and nucleic acids all serve as ligands for TLR2, -4, -5, and -9, respectively. These TLRs and their respective downstream effector molecules have proven critical to the host response to P. aeruginosa, although the protective effects of TLRs may be impaired and in some cases, enhanced in the CF patient, contributing to the particular susceptibility of individuals with this disease to P. aeruginosa infection.

Host DNA repair proteins in response to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in lung epithelial cells and in mice

Although DNA repair proteins in bacteria are critical for pathogens' genome stability and for subverting the host defense, the role of host DNA repair proteins in response to bacterial infection is poorly defined. Here, we demonstrate, for the first time, that infection with the Gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa significantly altered the expression and enzymatic activity of 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (OGG1) in lung epithelial cells. Downregulation of OGG1 by a small interfering RNA strategy resulted in severe DNA damage and cell death. In addition, acetylation of OGG1 is required for host responses to bacterial genotoxicity, as mutations of OGG1 acetylation sites increased Cockayne syndrome group B (CSB) protein expression. These results also indicate that CSB may be involved in DNA repair activity during infection. Furthermore, OGG1 knockout mice exhibited increased lung injury after infection with P. aeruginosa, as demonstrated by higher myeloperoxidase activity and lipid peroxidation. Together, our studies indicate that P. aeruginosa infection induces significant DNA damage in host cells and that DNA repair proteins play a critical role in the host response to P. aeruginosa infection, serving as promising targets for the treatment of this condition and perhaps more broadly Gram-negative bacterial infections.