Caspase-7 activation by the Nlrc4/Ipaf inflammasome restricts Legionella pneumophila infection.

Autor: Anwari Akhter, Mikhail A Gavrilin, Laura Frantz, Songcerae Washington, Cameron Ditty, Dominique Limoli, Colby Day, Anasuya Sarkar, Christie Newland, Jonathan Butchar, Clay B Marsh, Mark D Wewers, Susheela Tridandapani, Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti, Amal O Amer
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2009
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS Pathogens, Vol 5, Iss 4, p e1000361 (2009)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1553-7366
1553-7374
DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1000361
Popis: Legionella pneumophila (L. pneumophila), the causative agent of a severe form of pneumonia called Legionnaires' disease, replicates in human monocytes and macrophages. Most inbred mouse strains are restrictive to L. pneumophila infection except for the A/J, Nlrc4(-/-) (Ipaf(-/-)), and caspase-1(-/-) derived macrophages. Particularly, caspase-1 activation is detected during L. pneumophila infection of murine macrophages while absent in human cells. Recent in vitro experiments demonstrate that caspase-7 is cleaved by caspase-1. However, the biological role for caspase-7 activation downstream of caspase-1 is not known. Furthermore, whether this reaction is pertinent to the apoptosis or to the inflammation pathway or whether it mediates a yet unidentified effect is unclear. Using the intracellular pathogen L. pneumophila, we show that, upon infection of murine macrophages, caspase-7 was activated downstream of the Nlrc4 inflammasome and required caspase-1 activation. Such activation of caspase-7 was mediated by flagellin and required a functional Naip5. Remarkably, mice lacking caspase-7 and its macrophages allowed substantial L. pneumophila replication. Permissiveness of caspase-7(-/-) macrophages to the intracellular pathogen was due to defective delivery of the organism to the lysosome and to delayed cell death during early stages of infection. These results reveal a new mechanism for caspase-7 activation downstream of the Nlrc4 inflammasome and present a novel biological role for caspase-7 in host defense against an intracellular bacterium.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals