Neisseria gonorrhoeae exploits host interferon epsilon to establish infection in the female urogenital tract

淋病奈瑟菌利用宿主干扰素ε在女性泌尿生殖道中建立感染

• 批准号: 10655520
• 负责人: Douglas T Golenbock
• 金额: $ 79.61万
• 依托单位: UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2026-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10655520
• 关键词: Affect; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Antibiotics; Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; Attenuated; Bacteria; Bacterial Adhesion; Bacterial Infections; Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Cells; Cervical; Complement; Cytidine Monophosphate N-Acetylneuraminic Acid; Cytometry; Data; Dichloromethylene Diphosphonate; Drug-resistant Neisseria Gonorrhoeae; Ectopic Pregnancy; Effector Cell; Environment; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Epithelial Cells; Epithelium; Estrogen Therapy; Estrogens; Female; Female genitalia; Gene Expression; Genes; Gonadal Steroid Hormones; Gram-Negative Bacteria; HIV; Hormones; Host Defense; Human; IFNAR1 gene; Immune; Immune Evasion; Immune system; Incidence; Infection; Infertility; Inflammation; Innate Immune Response; Interferon alpha; Interferons; Invaded; Knock-out; Knockout Mice; Leukocytes; Lipid A; Lipopolysaccharides; Mediating; Menstrual cycle; Metabolism; Molecular; Monoclonal Antibodies; Mus; Myeloid Cells; Neisseria gonorrhoeae; Nucleic Acids; Pathway interactions; Pattern; Pelvic Inflammatory Disease; Phagocytes; Phase; Phenotype; Play; Predisposition; Production; Productivity; Proteins; Proteomics; Public Health; Recombinant Interferon; Regulation; Resistance; Role; Sexual Transmission; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Sialic Acids; Sialyltransferases; Signal Transduction; Tissues; Vagina; Viral Proteins; Wild Type Mouse; Woman; antimicrobial; bactericide; cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide; cell type; chemokine; chronic pelvic pain; cytokine; efflux pump; enhancing factor; human model; in vivo; knockout animal; lipooligosaccharide; mouse model; neutralizing monoclonal antibodies; pathogenic bacteria; phosphoethanolamine; prevent; receptor; recruit; reproductive tract; response; sialic acid binding Ig-like lectin; sialylation; transcriptome sequencing; transmission process; type I interferon receptor; urogenital tract; virtual

PROJECT ABSTRACT Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) is a sexually-transmitted gram-negative bacterium that causes inflammation and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). In the U.S., the incidence of Ng is rising dramatically. Alarmingly, Ng has become increasingly resistant to all approved antibiotics. Interferon-epsilon (IFN-e) is a type I IFN that is highly expressed by epithelial cells of the female urogenital tract (both in mice and humans) but not in leukocytes. IFN-e, unlike the other type I IFNs, is not induced by bacterial “pathogen-associated molecular patterns,” such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS) or nucleic acids. Rather, IFN-e is regulated by sex hormones in the urogenital tract. We discovered that estrogen contributes to Ng infection by inducing the expression of IFN-e. Estrogen treatment dramatically prolongs Ng infection of the female genital tract. Type I IFNs, including IFN-e, share a common receptor, the IFN-alpha/beta receptor (IFNAR). Our data using IFNAR and IFN-e knockout (KO) animals, as well as blocking mAbs to IFNAR, strongly support the hypothesis that estrogen-induced type I IFNs contribute to Ng immune evasion. In the absence of IFNAR signaling, Ng is virtually incapable of maintaining colonization of the female urogenital tract. Furthermore, local administration of recombinant IFN-e (rIFN-e) protein completely reverted the phenotype to resemble the wild- type mice. Preliminary studies suggest that this may be related to regulation of cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMP), such as CRAMP, as well as the sialylation of Ng lipooligosaccharide (LOS). We hypothesize that estrogen-induced IFN-e is required for productive Ng infection because it regulates the availability of sialic acid precursors to Ng sialyltransferase, thus, allowing Ng to evade AMP killing. In Aim 1, we will assess the impact of estrogen and IFN-e on gene expression in epithelial cells in the female genital tract during infection using both mouse and human models of Ng infection. We will use proteomics and gene expression approaches to determine if IFN-e regulates the expression of CAMPs and complement proteins in the genital tract. In Aim 2, we will determine how IFNAR-expressing cell types promote Ng survival. We will also assess the impact of type I IFN on the intrinsic bactericidal activity of phagocytes and their recruitment to the genital tract. In Aim 3, we will assess the impact of IFN-e on Ng genes, particularly genes that regulate CAMP evasion, and their impact on killing of Ng in the absence of IFN-e. We will also determine if IFN-e reduces the sensitivity of Ng to complement and/or CRAMP-mediated killing by regulating LOS sialyation. The ability to modulate IFN responses during sexually-transmitted infections is a valid and potentially transformative strategy to ameliorate or prevent the damaging sequelae of Ng infection and PID.

项目摘要