Dataset Information

Oropharyngeal Carriage of hpl-Containing Haemophilus haemolyticus Predicts Lower Prevalence and Density of NTHi Colonisation in Healthy Adults.

ABSTRACT: Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a major respiratory pathogen that initiates infection by colonising the upper airways. Strategies that interfere with this interaction may therefore have a clinically significant impact on the ability of NTHi to cause disease. We have previously shown that strains of the commensal bacterium Haemophilus haemolyticus (Hh) that produce a novel haem-binding protein, haemophilin, can prevent NTHi growth and interactions with host cells in vitro. We hypothesized that natural pharyngeal carriage of Hh strains with the hpl open reading frame (Hh-hpl⁺) would be associated with a lower prevalence and/or density of NTHi colonisation in healthy individuals. Oropharyngeal swabs were collected from 257 healthy adults in Australia between 2018 and 2019. Real-time PCR was used to quantitatively compare the oropharyngeal carriage load of NTHi and Hh populations with the Hh-hpl⁺ or Hh-hpl^- genotype. The likelihood of acquiring/maintaining NTHi colonisation status over a two- to six-month period was assessed in individuals that carried either Hh-hpl^- (n = 25) or Hh-hpl⁺ (n = 25). Compared to carriage of Hh-hpl^- strains, adult (18-65 years) and elderly (>65 years) participants that were colonised with Hh-hpl⁺ were 2.43 or 2.67 times less likely to carry NTHi in their oropharynx, respectively. Colonisation with high densities of Hh-hpl⁺ correlated with a low NTHi carriage load and a 2.63 times lower likelihood of acquiring/maintaining NTHi colonisation status between visits. Together with supporting in vitro studies, these results encourage further investigation into the potential use of Hh-hpl⁺ as a respiratory probiotic candidate for the prevention of NTHi infection.

SUBMITTER: Atto B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8151607 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Although non-typeable (NT) Haemophilus influenzae and Haemophilus haemolyticus are closely related human commensals, H. haemolyticus is non-pathogenic while NT H. influenzae is an important cause of respiratory tract infections. Phase-variable phosphorylcholine (ChoP) modification of lipooligosaccharide (LOS) is a NT H. influenzae virulence factor that, paradoxically, may also promote complement activation by binding C-reactive protein (CRP). CRP is known to bind more to ChoP positioned distally than proximally in LOS, and the position of ChoP within LOS is dictated by specific licD alleles (designated here as licDI, licDIII, and licDIV) that are present in a lic1 locus. The lic1 locus contains the licA-licD genes, and ChoP-host interactions may also be influenced by a second lic1 locus that allows for dual ChoP substitutions in the same strain, or by the number of licA gene tetranucleotide repeats (5'-CAAT-3') that reflect phase-variation mutation rates.Using dot-blot hybridization, 92% of 88 NT H. influenzae and 42.6% of 109 H. haemolyticus strains possessed a lic1 locus. Eight percent of NT H. influenzae and none of the H. haemolyticus strains possessed dual copies of lic1. The licDIII and licDIV gene alleles were distributed similarly (18-22%) among the NT H. influenzae and H. haemolyticus strains while licDI alleles were present in 45.5% of NT H. influenzae but in less than 1% of H. haemolyticus strains (P < .0001). NT H. influenzae had an average of 26.8 tetranucleotide repeats in licA compared to 14.8 repeats in H. haemolyticus (P < .05). In addition, NT H. influenzae strains that possessed a licDIII allele had increased numbers of repeats compared to NT H. influenzae with other licD alleles (P < .05).These data demonstrate that genetic similarities and differences of ChoP expression exist between NT H. influenzae and H. haemolyticus and strengthen the hypothesis that, at the population level, these differences may, in part, provide an advantage in the virulence of NT H. influenzae.

Dataset Information

Oropharyngeal Carriage of hpl-Containing Haemophilus haemolyticus Predicts Lower Prevalence and Density of NTHi Colonisation in Healthy Adults.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets