Importance of flagella in acute and chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an environmental microorganism and a causative agent of diverse acute and chronic, biofilm-associated infections. Advancing research-based knowledge on its adaptation to conditions within the human host is bound to reveal novel strategies and targets for therapeutic intervention. Here, we investigated the traits that P. aeruginosa PA14 as well as a virulence attenuated ΔlasR mutant need to survive in selected murine infection models. Experimentally, the genetic programs that the bacteria use to adapt to biofilm-associated versus acute infections were dissected by passaging transposon mutant libraries through mouse lungs (acute) or mouse tumours (biofilm-infection). Adaptive metabolic changes of P. aeruginosa were generally required during both infection processes. Counter-selection against flagella expression was observed during acute lung infections. Obviously, avoidance of flagella-mediated activation of host immunity is advantageous for the wildtype bacteria. For the ΔlasR mutant, loss of flagella did not confer a selective advantage. Apparently, other pathogenesis mechanisms are active in this virulence attenuated strain. In contrast, the infective process of P. aeruginosa in the chronic biofilm model apparently required expression of flagellin. Together, our findings imply that the host immune reactions against the infectious agent are very decisive for acuteness and duration of the infectious disease. They direct disease outcome.

Impact of preimplantational oral low-dose estradiol-17ß exposure on the endometrium: The role of miRNA.

Porcine conceptuses synthesize estrogens between Day 11 and 12 as signal for maternal recognition of pregnancy. A preimplantational estrogen exposure to pregnant gilts has been associated with embryonic losses and changes in endometrial mRNA expression. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a key role in the mRNA regulation by modulating the expression. Effects of estrogens on endometrial miRNAs have not been investigated in this context so far. Thus, we studied the endometrial expression profile of miRNAs in the pig at gestational Day 10 after daily estradiol-17ß (E2) application starting at fertilization using either 0, 0.05 (ADI-acceptable daily intake), 10 (NOEL-no-observed-effect level) and 1,000 (high dose) µg E2/kg body weight/day, respectively. In endometrial homogenates, E2 (p < 0.001) and total estrogen concentrations (p < 0.001) were significantly increased, namely 28- and 160-fold, respectively, in the high dose group as compared to the control. Additionally, total estrogens were sixfold elevated in the NOEL group. Interestingly, high-throughput sequencing of small non-coding RNA libraries did not indicate any differentially expressed miRNAs between the treatment groups and the control group. The expression of 12 potential E2 target miRNAs investigated by RT-qPCR were equally unaffected. Thus, preimplantational E2 exposure resulted in significantly higher endometrial estrogen concentrations, but did not perturb the expression profile of endometrial miRNAs.

[A new atraumatic device for liposuction and injection represents a technical advance for primary fat injection after cordectomy]. / Neues Verfahren zur Liposuktion und Fettaugmentation nach Chordektomie.

Lipoinjections into the vocal folds are well established in otorhinolaryngology. Currently, lipofilling in patients with surgical defects after laser cordectomy is discussed. We describe a new device for liposuction and lipofilling for primary vocal fold reconstruction after laser cordectomy. A patient with a surgical defect after pT1a glottic cancer is presented. Primary lipoinjection after laser cordectomy was documented as a safe and easy method to reconstruct the surgical defect. No relevant complications have been observed.

Insights into host-pathogen interactions from state-of-the-art animal models of respiratory Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic pathogen that can cause acute respiratory infections in immunocompetent patients or chronic infections in immunocompromised individuals and in patients with cystic fibrosis. When acquiring the chronic infection state, bacteria are encapsulated within biofilm structures enabling them to withstand diverse environmental assaults, including immune reactions and antimicrobial therapy. Understanding the molecular interactions within the bacteria, as well as with the host or other bacteria, is essential for developing innovative treatment strategies. Such knowledge might be accumulated in vitro. However, it is ultimately necessary to confirm these findings in vivo. In the present Review, we describe state-of-the-art in vivo models that allow studying P. aeruginosa infections in molecular detail. The portrayed mammalian models exclusively focus on respiratory infections. The data obtained by alternative animal models which lack lung tissue, often provide molecular insights that are easily transferable to mammals. Importantly, these surrogate in vivo systems reveal complex molecular interactions of P. aeruginosa with the host. Herein, we also provide a critical assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of such models.

The LasB Elastase of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Acts in Concert with Alkaline Protease AprA To Prevent Flagellin-Mediated Immune Recognition.

The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is capable of establishing severe and persistent infections in various eukaryotic hosts. It encodes a wide array of virulence factors and employs several strategies to evade immune detection. In the present study, we screened the Harvard Medical School transposon mutant library of P. aeruginosa PA14 for bacterial factors that modulate interleukin-8 responses in A549 human airway epithelial cells. We found that in addition to the previously identified alkaline protease AprA, the elastase LasB is capable of degrading exogenous flagellin under calcium-replete conditions and prevents flagellin-mediated immune recognition. Our results indicate that the production of two proteases with anti-flagellin activity provides a failsafe mechanism for P. aeruginosa to ensure the maintenance of protease-dependent immune-modulating functions.

Contribution of Veillonella parvula to Pseudomonas aeruginosa-mediated pathogenicity in a murine tumor model system.

The recent finding that high numbers of strict anaerobes are present in the respiratory tract of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients has drawn attention to the pathogenic contribution of the CF microbiome to airway disease. In this study, we investigated the specific interactions of the most dominant bacterial CF pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with the anaerobic bacterium Veillonella parvula, which has been recovered at comparable cell numbers from the respiratory tract of CF patients. In addition to growth competition experiments, transcriptional profiling, and analyses of biofilm formation by in vitro studies, we used our recently established in vivo murine tumor model to investigate mutual influences of the two pathogens during a biofilm-associated infection process. We found that P. aeruginosa and V. parvula colonized distinct niches within the tumor. Interestingly, significantly higher cell numbers of P. aeruginosa could be recovered from the tumor tissue when mice were coinfected with both bacterial species than when mice were monoinfected with P. aeruginosa. Concordantly, the results of in vivo transcriptional profiling implied that the presence of V. parvula supports P. aeruginosa growth at the site of infection in the host, and the higher P. aeruginosa load correlated with clinical deterioration of the host. Although many challenges must be overcome to dissect the specific interactions of coinfecting bacteria during an infection process, our findings exemplarily demonstrate that the complex interrelations between coinfecting microorganisms and the immune responses determine clinical outcome to a much greater extent than previously anticipated.