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Infection and Immunity, November 2007, p. 5346-5352, Vol. 75, No. 11
0019-9567/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00689-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Constitutive Acid Sphingomyelinase Enhances Early and Late Macrophage Killing of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium

Bruce D. McCollister,^1,2, Jesse T. Myers,^1,2, Jessica Jones-Carson,^1,2 Dennis R. Voelker,³ and Andrés Vázquez-Torres^1*

Departments of Microbiology,¹ Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center at Fitzsimons, Aurora, Colorado 80010,² National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, Colorado³

Received 19 May 2007/ Returned for modification 26 June 2007/ Accepted 28 July 2007

We have identified acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) as an important player in the early and late anti-Salmonella activity of macrophages. A functional ASM participated in the killing activity of macrophages against wild-type Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. The role of ASM in early macrophage killing of Salmonella appears to be linked to an active NADPH phagocyte oxidase enzymatic complex, since the flavoprotein inhibitor diphenyleneiodonium not only blocked a productive respiratory burst but also abrogated the survival advantage of Salmonella in macrophages lacking ASM. Lack of ASM activity also increased the intracellular survival of an isogenic spiC::FRT Salmonella strain deficient in a translocator and effector of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 2 (SPI2) type III secretion system, suggesting that the antimicrobial activity associated with ASM is manifested regardless of the SPI2 status of the bacteria. Constitutively expressed ASM is responsible for the role that this lipid-metabolizing hydrolase plays in the innate host defense of macrophages against Salmonella. Accordingly, the ASM activity and intracellular concentration and composition of ceramide, gangliosides, and neutral sphingolipids did not increase upon Salmonella infection. Salmonella triggered, nonetheless, a significant increase in the secreted fraction of ASM. Collectively, these findings have elucidated a novel role for constitutive ASM in the anti-Salmonella activity of murine macrophages.

Published ahead of print on 13 August 2007.

Editor: J. B. Bliska

B.D.M. and J.T.M. contributed equally to this work.

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