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Infection and Immunity, March 1999, p. 1445-1449, Vol. 67, No. 3
National Public Health Institute,
Received 2 July 1998/Returned for modification 30 September
1998/Accepted 16 November 1998
Chlamydia pneumoniae infection has been associated with
cardiovascular diseases in seroepidemiological studies and by
demonstration of the pathogen in atherosclerotic lesions. It has the
capacity to infect several cell types, including monocyte-derived
macrophages, which play an essential role in the development of
atherosclerosis. However, the persistence of C. pneumoniae
in mononuclear cells is poorly understood. To study the morphology and
biological characteristics of the infection, human peripheral blood
monocytes were infected with C. pneumoniae. Freshly
isolated monocytes resisted the development of infectious progeny, and
confocal and transmission electron microscopy showed that the
morphology of the inclusions and chlamydial particles was abnormal.
Addition of tryptophan or antibodies against gamma interferon did not
diminish the inhibition of C. pneumoniae, suggesting that
other factors are involved in the chlamydiostatic activity of the
monocytes. Chlamydial mRNA was expressed at least 3 days after
infection, however, and a capability for infected monocytes to induce a
positive lymphocyte proliferative response was detected for up to 7 days, indicating that C. pneumoniae remains metabolically
active in the monocytes in vitro. These results are in accordance with
the hypothesis that C. pneumoniae may participate in the
maintenance of local immunological response and inflammation via
infected monocytes and thus enhance atherosclerosis.
Chlamydia pneumoniae is
an obligate intracellular bacterium involved in a wide spectrum of
respiratory tract infections (9, 13). A common feature of
chlamydial infections is their tendency to persist, and they have been
associated with many chronic conditions, including chronic bronchitis,
adult-onset asthma, and coronary heart disease (10, 19, 22).
In vitro, C. pneumoniae is able to infect a number of cell
types, including monocyte-derived macrophages (6, 8, 11),
which are pivotal to the development of atherosclerosis (17).
As professional phagocytic cells, monocytes/macrophages are responsible
for the first host defense mechanisms during microbial infections and
for regulation of other cells participating in immunological defense
processes. Although the chronic characteristics of Chlamydia
infections may be related to the capacity of the bacterium to be
internalized by nonprofessional as well as professional phagocytes, the
ability of the organism to escape the bactericidal systems of
phagocytic cells (16) enables them to remain in these cells
for long periods. It has been suggested that the residence of C. pneumoniae in circulating monocytes offers a means of distribution from the primary colonization region into other organs in order to
initiate and participate in the maintenance of local immunological response and inflammation. However, the persistence of C. pneumoniae in mononuclear cells is poorly understood. In present
study, we investigated the biological characteristics of C. pneumoniae infection in human monocytes in vitro.
Organism.
C. pneumoniae Kajaani 7 (5) was
propagated in HL cells, a cell line conventionally used to grow the
bacteria, and chlamydial elementary bodies (EBs) were purified from the
cells by Urografin (Schering AG, Berlin, Germany) density gradient
centrifugation. Purified EBs were suspended in
sucrose-phosphate-glutamic acid (0.2 M sucrose, 3.8 mM
KH2PO4, 6.7 mM Na2HPO4,
5 mM L-glutamic acid [pH 7.4]) buffer and stored in small
aliquots at Purification of PBMCs.
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells
(PBMCs) were isolated from heparinized buffy coats provided by the
Finnish Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (Oulu, Finland) by using
Ficoll-Paque (Pharmacia Biotech, Uppsala, Sweden) density gradient
centrifugation. The PBMCs were washed three times with Hanks balanced
salt solution (Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.), suspended in RPMI 1640 medium
containing 10% human AB blood type serum (Finnish Red Cross Blood
Transfusion Service, Helsinki, Finland), and distributed on plastic
petri tissue culture dishes (107 cells/dish) for monocytes
to adhere. After overnight incubation at 37°C in 5% CO2,
nonadherent cells were removed by washing the plates twice with
phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and adherent cells were detached from
the plastic surface by incubation the plates for 15 min at 4°C and
using plastic cell rakes. Thereafter, the cells were allowed to adhere
to the plastic surface again (2-h incubation), resulting in a harvested
cell preparation containing more than 90% monocytes as determined by
CD14 expression (with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-conjugated
anti-CD14 monoclonal antibody; Becton Dickinson, Mountain View,
Calif.).
Infection of monocytes.
Monocytes were seeded on 24-well
plates at a density of 4 × 105 to 5 × 105 cells per well, allowed to adhere, and infected with
purified EBs of C. pneumoniae (6 × 106
inclusion-forming units [IFU]/well) by centrifugation (550 × g for 60 min). The infected cells were grown at 37°C under
5% CO2 in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% AB
serum, 2 mM glutamine, and 20 µg of streptomycin per ml. For
fluorescence microscopy studies, the cells were grown on coverslips.
All experiments were performed in triplicate, and the cells were
harvested 3 days after infection unless otherwise stated.
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Chlamydia pneumoniae Infection in
Human Monocytes
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ABSTRACT
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
![]()
INTRODUCTION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
![]()
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
70°C until used.
150°C until used
for the lymphocyte proliferation experiments. The T-cell preparations
were made up of >95% of CD3-positive cells (anti-CD3 FITC-conjugated
monoclonal antibody; Becton Dickinson) and contained both CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes.
) is essential in restricting the
growth of C. pneumoniae in monocytes, as previously found for other cell types (21), monocytes were treated with 200 µg of tryptophan (Sigma) per ml or with 0.5 µg of anti-IFN-
antibody (Genzyme, Cambridge, Mass.) per ml, which both antagonize the influence of IFN-
. The agents were added to the cultures
simultaneously with the infection. The number of inclusions and the
infectivity of the progeny were studied after 3 days of incubation as
described below. For analysis of chlamydial viability in monocytes by
PCR, 50 ng of IFN-
(Genzyme) per ml was added to the cultures
simultaneously with the infection to investigate if IFN-
enhances
the inhibition of chlamydial mRNA production. The concentrations of the
added supplements were based on our preliminary studies with
macrophages (data not shown).
Analysis of chlamydial infectivity. After 3 days of incubation, the infected monocytes growing on coverslips were washed with phosphate-buffered saline, fixed with methanol, and stained directly with Chlamydia genus-specific FITC-conjugated monoclonal antibody (Pathfinder Chlamydia confirmation system; Kallestad Diagnostics). The number of chlamydial inclusions in the whole sample was counted with a Leitz Aristoplan fluorescence microscope.
The infectivity of the C. pneumoniae progeny was analyzed by performing repassages on freshly prepared confluent HL-cell layers growing on coverslips. Monocytes were harvested 3 days postinfection, and the cell suspension was mechanically disrupted and centrifuged on HL cells (550 × g for 60 min). The infected HL-cell monolayers were grown at 37°C under 5% CO2 in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 7.5% fetal calf serum, 2 mM glutamine, 20 µg of streptomycin per ml, and 0.5 µg of cycloheximide per ml. After 3 days of incubation, the cells were fixed and stained as above and the presence of chlamydial inclusions was studied or the cells were repassaged again on fresh HL cells.Confocal microscopy of the infected monocytes. Monocytes were infected, fixed, and stained with FITC-conjugated anti-Chlamydia antibody as described above and studied by confocal microscopy (Aristoplan CLSM fluorescence microscope; Leica Lasertechnic) equipped with a 75 mM air-cooled argon-krypton laser (Omnichrome; Chino). FITC was excited at a wavelength of 488 nm, and rhodamine was excited at 556 nm. The samples were scanned in 512- by 512-pixel formats in the x-y and x-z directions.
Transmission electron microscopy. For transmission electron microscopy, fresh confluent monolayers of HL cells were infected with 105 to 106 IFU of C. pneumoniae by centrifugation, and the monocytes were infected as above. Cells were detached from the culture dish with plastic rakes 72 h postinfection, pelleted, fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde solution, postfixed with 1% OsO4 in 0.1 M phosphate buffer, dehydrated in acetone, and embedded in Epon LX 112. Thin sections were cut with a Reichert Ultracut E-ultramicrotome (Reichert-Jung, Vienna, Austria), stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate, and examined under a Philips 410 transmission electron microscope.
Analysis of C. pneumoniae-specific mRNA.
Chlamydial mRNA transcripts of 16S rRNA, 60-kDa heat shock protein
(HSP60), and 60-kDa cysteine-rich outer membrane protein (Crp60) were
measured by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) in infected monocytes
(4 × 105 to 5 × 105 cells; 6 × 106 IFU) 3, 7, and 10 days after infection. RNA was
extracted from the cells with the RNeasy Midi kit (Qiagen, Hilden,
Germany) as specified by the manufacturer, divided into two 100-µl
aliquots, and stored at
70°C.
-actin gene
was used to confirm the presence of undegraded and amplifiable RNA. The
amplification products were separated and visualized by electrophoresis
on 2% agarose gels containing ethidium bromide.
Analysis of the effect of infected monocytes on lymphocyte activation. Presentation of C. pneumoniae antigen by the infected monocytes was studied by the lymphocyte blast transformation test. Freshly isolated monocytes (105 cells/well) were seeded on flat-bottom 96-well tissue culture plates (Nunc, Roskilde, Denmark) and infected immediately by adding 8 × 102 or 8 × 103 IFU of C. pneumoniae to each well. Tuberculin-purified protein derivative (Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark; final concentration, 10 µg/ml) was used as a control antigen. Purified T cells (105 cells/well) were added to the monocytes 0, 5, 7, or 10 days after infection, and the cultures were incubated in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2 at 37°C for a further 6 days. [methyl-3H]thymidine (0.2 µCi/well; Amersham Life Science, Little Chalfont, United Kingdom) was then added to the wells for 18 h. The cells from each well were harvested on nitrocellulose filters (Wallac, Turku, Finland) with an automatic cell harvester (Skatron AS, Lier, Norway), and the lymphocyte proliferation responses were measured in counts per minute (cpm) of radioactivity incorporated into the proliferating cells by using a liquid scintillation counter (Wallac).
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RESULTS |
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|
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Infectivity of C. pneumoniae in the monocyte cultures.
C. pneumoniae Kajaani 7 seemed capable of infecting
monocytes, as shown by confocal microscopy 3 days after infection (Fig. 1). The exact number of inclusions was
difficult to count, because over 90% of the monocytes contained
multiple inclusions and chlamydial particles. Furthermore, the sizes
and the staining intensities of the inclusions were remarkably diverse.
However, when the infectivity of the progeny of the bacteria was
studied by repassaging cell suspensions on fresh HL cells, no
inclusions at all were found even after two repassages in spite of the
large numbers of inclusions in primarily infected monocytes. To test
whether the abortive effect of the monocytes on the growth of C. pneumoniae is influenced by IFN-
, the IFN-
antagonists
anti-IFN-
antibody or tryptophan were added to the infected monocyte
cultures. However, neither the growth nor the infectivity of C. pneumoniae was influenced. Despite the treatments, the inclusions
were still clearly abnormal in morphology, the progeny was still
noninfectious, and after repassages on fresh HL cells, no inclusions
were found.
|
Electron microscopy of the infected monocytes. The morphology of the inclusions and the chlamydial particles was also studied by transmission electron microscopy. In monocytes, the inclusions were smaller and contained fewer chlamydial particles than in HL cells. As shown in Fig. 2B and C, the monocyte inclusions contained a few mature-looking EBs, abnormal reticulate bodies (RBs), and "envelope ghosts" similar to those detected in C. trachomatis-infected, antibiotic-treated epithelial cells (23). Normal RBs, such as those seen in HL cells (Fig. 2A), were not found.
|
Metabolic activity of C. pneumoniae in the
monocytes.
To study the metabolic activity of C. pneumoniae in monocytes, mRNA transcripts of 16S rRNA, Crp60, and
HSP60 were analyzed (Fig. 3A to C).
C. pneumoniae-specific 16S rRNA and Crp60 were expressed for
at least up to 3 days after the infection. With the HSP60 primers, the
RT-PCR was positive for 7 days postinfection. Administration of IFN-
to the cell cultures had no significant effect on RNA expression of the
bacteria. The PCR amplification of C. pneumoniae mRNA
transcripts was negative in noninfected control cells. RT-PCR for
-actin mRNA was positive at all time points, indicating that the
monocytes in the cell culture medium were viable (Fig. 3D).
|
Capacity of C. pneumoniae-infected monocytes to induce a lymphocyte proliferative response. The characteristics of C. pneumoniae infection in monocytes were further analyzed by a lymphocyte proliferation assay. As shown in Fig. 4, the lymphocyte proliferative responses were positive at both antigen concentrations (8 × 102 and 8 × 103 IFU/well) when the T cells were added to the monocyte cultures on the day of infection (day 0). The monocytes infected with a higher challenge dose of C. pneumoniae induced a positive lymphocyte proliferation response even when the T cells were added to the cultures 5 or 7 days after infection. The purified protein derivative response, used as a positive control, declined soon after the antigenic challenge.
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DISCUSSION |
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We demonstrated in this study that freshly isolated human monocytes, although clearly invaded by C. pneumoniae, seem to resist the development of infectious progeny of the bacteria. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the inclusions contained chlamydial particles at different developmental stages, and chlamydial mRNA synthesis was detected up to 7 days post infection by RT-PCR. The data suggests that C. pneumoniae remains metabolically active in human monocytes in vitro, which is comparable to the growth characteristics of C. trachomatis serovar K (12, 20). We also showed that the infected monocytes could induce a positive lymphocyte proliferation response for at least 7 days, which further supports the viability of the bacteria in monocytes.
The chlamydicidal activity of human monocytes has previously been shown
to involve most C. trachomatis serovars (23) and C. pneumoniae (11), but not C. psittaci, which is capable of limited growth in monocytes
(14, 18). The mechanisms of the growth limitation are mostly
obscure, however. IFN-
is a central cytokine regulating the
bactericidal activity of phagocytizing cells, and it is important in
host defense against chlamydiae (2, 3, 4, 18, 23). However,
excess amounts of anti-IFN-
antibody or tryptophan could not reverse
the inhibition of the production of infectious C. pneumoniae
progeny in monocytes, as previously also found with C. trachomatis serovar K (12). This indicates that in
addition to IFN-
, other factors are involved in the inhibition
mechanisms in freshly isolated monocytes.
In contrast to the monocytes, human macrophages support the growth of infective C. pneumoniae (6, 8, 11). The fate of chlamydiae in monocytes and in monocyte-derived macrophages seems to be dependent on the bacterial strain and is different between the oculogenital and LGV biovars of C. trachomatis. The LGV biovar is more resistant to the bactericidal effect of macrophages than is the trachoma biovar, suggesting that the well-adapted growth in macrophages may reflect the disease syndromes associated with different biovars (23). The differences in growth patterns may be linked to the degree of the respiratory burst of the cells, which decreases markedly when monocytes mature into macrophages (1). This in turn suggests that the lysosomal degradation of phagocytized microbial organisms is weakened in macrophages relative to monocytes.
Most chlamydial strains that successfully replicate within phagocytes have means of impairing host defenses, and this often involves inhibition of phagolysosomal fusion (16). No data have been published on how C. pneumoniae survives in the host cells, but our results suggest that its fate depends on the host cells themselves. Since C. pneumoniae-infected monocytes are able to induce the proliferation of CD4-positive lymphocytes, binding of degraded chlamydial antigens by HLA class II molecules must have occurred in the lysosomal vesicles, indicating that phagolysosomal fusion had not been totally avoided. On the other hand, in spite of the relatively low inoculum used in this study, the infected monocytes did carry inclusions containing chlamydial particles at various developmental stages. The simultaneously detected metabolic activity of C. pneumoniae in the monocytes suggests that replication occurs to some degree even though the development of infective EBs is hindered.
C. pneumoniae has recently been shown to spread from the respiratory tract to other organs via infected monocytes/macrophages (15) that are known to be central in the development of atherosclerosis (17). Together with these results, the well-adapted capability of C. pneumoniae to remain metabolically active in mononuclear phagocytes can be considered to support the hypothesis that C. pneumoniae is involved in maintaining long-standing local inflammation in vessel walls and thus is enhancing the development of atherosclerotic lesions.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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This work was supported by grants from Helsingin Sanomat Centennial Foundation, Finland, and the Sigrid Juselius Foundation.
We thank Juha Tuukkanen and Jouni Lakkakorpi (Department of Anatomy, University of Oulu) for guidance in confocal microscopy and Marja Syrjäkallio-Ylitalo (Department of Pathology, University of Oulu) for preparation of the electron micrographs.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093-0682. Phone: (618) 534-4402. Fax: (619) 534-2005. E-mail: alaurila{at}ucsd.edu.
Editor: E. I. Tuomanen
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