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Malet K, Faure E, Adam D, Donner J, Liu L, Pilon SJ, Fraser R, Jorth P, Newman DK, Brochiero E, Rousseau S, Nguyen D. Intracellular Pseudomonas aeruginosa within the Airway Epithelium of Cystic Fibrosis Lung Tissues. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2024. [PMID: 38324627 DOI: 10.1164/rccm.202308-1451oc] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/09/2024] Open
Abstract
RATIONALE Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P.a.) is the major bacterial pathogen colonizing the airways of adult cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and causes chronic infections that persist despite antibiotic therapy. Intracellular bacteria may represent an unrecognized reservoir of bacteria that evades the immune system and antibiotic therapy. While the ability of P.a. to invade and survive within epithelial cells has been described in vitro in different epithelial cell models, evidence of this intracellular lifestyle in human lung tissues is currently lacking. OBJECTIVES To detect and characterize intracellular P.a. in CF airway epithelium from human lung explant tissues. METHODS We sampled the lung explant tissues from CF patients undergoing lung transplantation and non-CF lung donor control. We analyzed lung tissue sections for the presence of intracellular P.a. by quantitative culture and microscopy, in parallel to histopathology and airway morphometry. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS P.a. was isolated from the lungs of 7 CF patients undergoing lung transplantation. Microscopic assessment revealed the presence of intracellular P.a. within airway epithelial cells in 3 out of the 7 patients analyzed, at a varying but low frequency. We observed those events occurring in lung regions with high bacterial burden. CONCLUSION This is the first study describing the presence of intracellular P.a. in CF lung tissues. While intracellular P.a. in airway epithelial cells are likely relatively rare events, our findings highlight the plausible occurrence of this intracellular bacterial reservoir in chronic CF infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karim Malet
- Research Institute McGill University Health Centre, Meakins-Christie Laboratories, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Emmanuel Faure
- CHU de Lille, Service universitaire de maladies infectieuses, Lille, Nord, France
- Research Institute McGill University Health Centre, Meakins-Christie Laboratories, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Damien Adam
- Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Université de Montréal, 5622, Médecine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Jannik Donner
- Research Institute McGill University Health Centre, Meakins-Christie Laboratories, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Lin Liu
- Guizhou University, 71206, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Guiyang, China
| | - Sarah-Jeanne Pilon
- McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), Department of Pathology, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Richard Fraser
- McGill University Health Centre, 54473, Pathology, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Peter Jorth
- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, 548288, Los Angeles, California, United States
| | - Dianne K Newman
- Caltech, 6469, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, Pasadena, California, United States
| | - Emmanuelle Brochiero
- Centre de recherche, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Hôtel Dieu, Département de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Simon Rousseau
- McGill University, Dept. of Medicine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Dao Nguyen
- Research Institute McGill University Health Centre, Meakins-Christie Laboratories, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- McGill University, 5620, Medicine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;
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