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Infection and Immunity, September 2006, p. 5402-5407, Vol. 74, No. 9
0019-9567/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/IAI.00244-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Departments of Molecular Microbiology,1 Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 631102
Received 14 February 2006/ Returned for modification 28 March 2006/ Accepted 14 June 2006
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A substantial amount of research over the last 20 years has focused on the importance of cytokine production in the host defense against K. pneumoniae pulmonary infection. Nearly all of these studies have examined infection of a wild-type strain after intratracheal inoculation and compared outcomes in both wild-type and immunodeficient mice (23, 26). Among the host factors that have been investigated include tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-
), interleukin-12 (IL-12), IL-17, and macrophage inflammatory protein 1
(MIP-1
) (12, 29). These experiments have helped to reinforce the importance of the inflammatory response in clearing K. pneumoniae infection and have provided substantial evidence for the protective role of a TH1-mediated response. Any interference with a rapid host response (e.g., suppression of the proinflammatory cytokines) leads to a more severe disease process (16). Conversely, augmenting the immune response with exogenous inflammatory mediators decreases the morbidity and mortality associated with infection (23).
Despite the importance of capsular polysaccharide for the pathogenesis of K. pneumoniae, few studies have compared the host responses against wild-type and well-defined capsule mutant strains. In examining the previous literature for in vivo studies of capsule mutant infections, only a few of these have included immunological assays as part of their comparison (Table 1) . Many of these studies feature one or more deficiencies, including the use of spontaneous capsule mutant strains, choosing few time points for comparison, or using atypical inoculation routes. Two studies in particular have detailed the difference in cytokine production between a wild-type infection and one caused by a spontaneous capsule-deficient strain and examined the production of a number of cytokines during each infection (30, 32). Similar levels of production of TNF-
, IL-1ß, and IL-6 were seen in both bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and serum samples at most time points in both infected groups. Interestingly, the level of IL-6 production was significantly higher in BAL fluid from capsule mutant infected mice than from wild-type infected mice (32). Further investigation demonstrated that the capsule-deficient strain induced an early peak of IFN-
production that was lacking in the wild-type infected mice (30). Instead, the wild-type infection induced higher levels of IL-10 production, and it was postulated that capsule serves to induce the production of IL-10, which helps to suppress the host inflammatory response and allow the bacteria to grow in a more permissive environment.
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107 CFU of the cpsB mutant strain or
104 CFU of the wild-type KPPR1 strain) (18). However, bacterial concentrations in the lungs increasingly diverge after the 12-h time point, with the wild-type infection peaking at 72 h postinfection with ensuing lethality. In contrast, the cpsB mutant is unable to grow in either the trachea or lungs and fails to disseminate to the spleen. However, small numbers of this attenuated strain can persist in the lungs for several days (18). Despite past achievements in elucidating the host response to K. pneumoniae infection, we believe that our comprehensive model can be used in concert with our defined capsule mutant to bring further insight to this interesting area of research. In the present study we describe the use of the intranasal mouse model to study the host response to K. pneumoniae infection by either a wild-type or a capsule mutant strain. Comparing the weights of infected tissues provided a broad comparison of inflammation during each infection. Cytokine quantitation using both RNA and protein measurements allowed a more detailed examination of differences in the host responses to these infections. The use of fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis and histology to examine infected lungs provides an insight into the different cell types recruited during each infection. Finally, we evaluated the efficacy of the capsule mutant strain in generating protective immunity against a wild-type infection.
Gross measures of inflammation. One of the most common methods to determine gross inflammation is to examine the weight of infected tissues. At early time points after intranasal inoculation, no differences were seen when whole lung and spleen weights were compared between wild-type- and cpsB mutant-infected mice (Fig. 1). However, at later time points the wild-type bacteria induced a substantial inflammatory response that was clearly lacking in the mutant infected tissue, and this was reflected in significant differences in lung weights at the 72- and 96-h time points. Interestingly, there were no differences in spleen weights at any time during infection (data not shown).
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The most interesting aspect of the cpsB mediated cytokine response was an altered production of IFN-
. At the 48- and 72-h time points, there was a higher level of IFN-
production in cpsB-infected lungs than during wild-type infection (Fig. 2). IFN-
production in wild-type-infected mice did not reach the quantities found in cpsB mutant-infected tissues at any time point. IFN-
has been shown to play different roles when K. pneumoniae is inoculated by different routes (20). IFN-
knockout mice suffered greater mortality after intratracheal infection, with a higher bacterial burden in the lungs than wild-type mice. However, the knockout mice showed rates of survival at least as high if not higher than wild-type mice after intravenous K. pneumoniae inoculation. The authors of that study concluded that localized pulmonary infection requires IFN-
whereas systemic infection does not. Intranasal studies have also demonstrated that mice deficient in IFN-
production show a larger bacterial burden and suffer greater mortality from wild-type Klebsiella infection (30). The higher levels of IFN-
that are produced during the cpsB mutant infection are likely a result of the high rate of phagocytosis and clearance of the cpsB mutant strain.
Between 12 and 48 h postinfection, significantly higher concentrations of TNF-
, MCP-1, and IL-6 were produced in cpsB mutant infected lungs compared to the wild-type infection (Fig. 2). This difference may be attributable to the 1,000-fold difference between these bacterial inocula (Fig. 2). Additional experiments with the KPPR1 strain inoculated at 107 CFU demonstrated a concomitant increase in TNF-
and MCP-1 production to the levels seen in cpsB mutant-infected lungs (data not shown). Mice lacking MCP-1
(CCL3/) have been shown to survive infection less well than wild-type mice and have increased bacterial burden in their lungs (19). These mice do not appear to be defective for recruiting monocytes, macrophages, or neutrophils, and they produce normal levels of cytokines in response to Klebsiella infection. However, using in vitro assays alveolar macrophages from the CCL3/ mice were found to be defective for the phagocytosis of opsonized Klebsiella, which may account for the uncontrolled growth observed in the lungs and decreased survival (19). In addition to directly measuring cytokine levels in tissue, we also monitored the transcript level of these same cytokines from the lung tissue by using quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) (Table 3). In general, similar trends were observed.
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500-fold greater than the wild-type LD50 value (18). All naive mice succumbed to infection by 5 days postinoculation, whereas 80% of the immunized mice survived (Fig. 4). This result indicates that noncapsular Klebsiella antigens can stimulate a protective memory immune response. Moreover, it also suggests that noncapsular antigens can serve as targets to generate an effective defense against infection by a capsule-positive strain.
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| FOOTNOTES |
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