Dataset Information

Networked T cell death following macrophage infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Depletion of T cells following infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) impairs disease resolution, and interferes with clinical test performance that relies on cell-mediated immunity. A number of mechanisms contribute to this T cell suppression, such as activation-induced death and trafficking of T cells out of the peripheral circulation and into the diseased lungs. The extent to which Mtb infection of human macrophages affects T cell viability however, is not well characterised.

Methodology/principal findings

We found that lymphopenia (<1.5 × 10(9) cells/l) was prevalent among culture-positive tuberculosis patients, and lymphocyte counts significantly improved post-therapy. We previously reported that Mtb-infected human macrophages resulted in death of infected and uninfected bystander macrophages. In the current study, we sought to examine the influence of infected human alveolar macrophages on T cells. We infected primary human alveolar macrophages (the primary host cell for Mtb) or PMA-differentiated THP-1 cells with Mtb H37Ra, then prepared cell-free supernatants. The supernatants of Mtb-infected macrophages caused dose-dependent, caspase-dependent, T cell apoptosis. This toxic effect of infected macrophage secreted factors did not require TNF-α or Fas. The supernatant cytotoxic signal(s) were heat-labile and greater than 50 kDa in molecular size. Although ESAT-6 was toxic to T cells, other Mtb-secreted factors tested did not influence T cell viability; nor did macrophage-free Mtb bacilli or broth from Mtb cultures. Furthermore, supernatants from Mycobacterium bovis Bacille de Calmette et Guerin (BCG)- infected macrophages also elicited T cell death suggesting that ESAT-6 itself, although cytotoxic, was not the principal mediator of T cell death in our system.

Conclusions

Mtb-Infected macrophages secrete heat-labile factors that are toxic to T cells, and may contribute to the immunosuppression seen in tuberculosis as well as interfere with microbial eradication in the granuloma.

SUBMITTER: Macdonald SH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3366923 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Transcriptional reprogramming of macrophages upon Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection is widely studied; however, the significance of alternate splicing (AS) in shaping cellular responses to mycobacterial infections is not yet appreciated. Alternate splicing can influence transcript stability or structure, function and localization of corresponding proteins thereby altering protein stoichiometry and physiological consequences. Using comprehensive analysis of a time-series RNA-seq data obtained from human macrophages infected with virulent or avirulent strains of Mtb, we show extensive remodeling of alternate splicing in macrophage transcriptome. The global nature of this regulation was evident since genes belonging to functional classes like trafficking, immune response, autophagy, redox and metabolism showed marked departure in the pattern of splicing in the infected macrophages. The systemic perturbation of splicing machinery in the infected macrophages was apparent as genes involved at different stages of spliceosome assembly were also regulated at the splicing level. Curiously there was a considerable increase in the expression of truncated/non-translatable variants of several genes, specifically upon virulent infections. Increased expression of truncated transcripts correlated with a decline in the corresponding protein levels. We verified the physiological relevance for one such candidate gene RAB8B; whose truncated variant gets enriched in H37Rv infected cells. Upon tweaking relative abundance of longer or shorter variants of RAB8B transcripts by specialized transduction, mycobacterial targeting to lysosomes could be promoted or blocked respectively, which also resulted in corresponding changes in the bacterial survival. Our results show RAB8B recruitment to the mycobacterial phagosomes is required for phagosome maturation. Thus the abundance of truncated RAB8B variant helps virulent Mtb survival by limiting the RAB8B levels in the cells, a mechanism which we subsequently verified in human primary macrophages. Taken together we demonstrate alternate splicing as a new locus of intervention by Mtb and provide attractive alternative to exploit for novel drug targets against Mtb.