Reduction of host cell mitochondrial activity as Mycobacterium leprae's strategy to evade host innate immunity.

Leprosy is a much-feared incapacitating infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae or M lepromatosis, annually affecting roughly 200,000 people worldwide. During host-pathogen interaction, M leprae subverts the immune response, leading to development of disease. Throughout the last few decades, the impact of energy metabolism on the control of intracellular pathogens and leukocytic differentiation has become more evident. Mitochondria play a key role in regulating newly-discovered immune signaling pathways by controlling redox metabolism and the flow of energy besides activating inflammasome, xenophagy, and apoptosis. Likewise, this organelle, whose origin is probably an alphaproteobacterium, directly controls the intracellular pathogens attempting to invade its niche, a feature conquered at the expense of billions of years of coevolution. In the present review, we discuss the role of reduced host cell mitochondrial activity during M leprae infection and the consequential fates of M leprae and host innate immunity. Conceivably, inhibition of mitochondrial energy metabolism emerges as an overlooked and novel mechanism developed by M leprae to evade xenophagy and the host immune response.

Subversion of Schwann Cell Glucose Metabolism by Mycobacterium leprae.

Mycobacterium leprae, the intracellular etiological agent of leprosy, infects Schwann promoting irreversible physical disabilities and deformities. These cells are responsible for myelination and maintenance of axonal energy metabolism through export of metabolites, such as lactate and pyruvate. In the present work, we observed that infected Schwann cells increase glucose uptake with a concomitant increase in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) activity, the key enzyme of the oxidative pentose pathway. We also observed a mitochondria shutdown in infected cells and mitochondrial swelling in pure neural leprosy nerves. The classic Warburg effect described in macrophages infected by Mycobacterium avium was not observed in our model, which presented a drastic reduction in lactate generation and release by infected Schwann cells. This effect was followed by a decrease in lactate dehydrogenase isoform M (LDH-M) activity and an increase in cellular protection against hydrogen peroxide insult in a pentose phosphate pathway and GSH-dependent manner. M. leprae infection success was also dependent of the glutathione antioxidant system and its main reducing power source, the pentose pathway, as demonstrated by a 50 and 70% drop in intracellular viability after treatment with the GSH synthesis inhibitor buthionine sulfoximine, and aminonicotinamide (6-ANAM), an inhibitor of G6PDH 6-ANAM, respectively. We concluded that M. leprae could modulate host cell glucose metabolism to increase the cellular reducing power generation, facilitating glutathione regeneration and consequently free-radical control. The impact of this regulation in leprosy neuropathy is discussed.

Type I Interferons, Autophagy and Host Metabolism in Leprosy.

For those with leprosy, the extent of host infection by Mycobacterium leprae and the progression of the disease depend on the ability of mycobacteria to shape a safe environment for its replication during early interaction with host cells. Thus, variations in key genes such as those in pattern recognition receptors (NOD2 and TLR1), autophagic flux (PARK2, LRRK2, and RIPK2), effector immune cytokines (TNF and IL12), and environmental factors, such as nutrition, have been described as critical determinants for infection and disease progression. While parkin-mediated autophagy is observed as being essential for mycobacterial clearance, leprosy patients present a prominent activation of the type I IFN pathway and its downstream genes, including OASL, CCL2, and IL10. Activation of this host response is related to a permissive phenotype through the suppression of IFN-γ response and negative regulation of autophagy. Finally, modulation of host metabolism was observed during mycobacterial infection. Both changes in lipid and glucose homeostasis contribute to the persistence of mycobacteria in the host. M. leprae-infected cells have an increased glucose uptake, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate generation by pentose phosphate pathways, and downregulation of mitochondrial activity. In this review, we discussed new pathways involved in the early mycobacteria-host interaction that regulate innate immune pathways or metabolism and could be new targets to host therapy strategies.

Modulação do metabolismo energético na hanseníase / Energy modulation in leprosy

O Mycobacterium leprae, patógeno intracelular causador da hanseníase, infecta com sucesso células da glia do sistema nervoso periférico, denominadas células de Schwann (CS). Estas células são responsáveis pela mielinização e envio de metabólitos, como o lactato e o piruvato, para os axônios, mantendo assim os processos energéticos associados à transdução de sinal nos nervos periféricos. A interação entre o bacilo e sua célula hospedeira vem sendo alvo de muitos estudos de modulação imunológica, desmielinização e de metabolismo lipídico, porém as possíveis modulações sobre o metabolismo energético destas células impostas pelo patógeno permanecem negligenciadas e desconhecidas. Para determinar estas modulações, estudamos o metabolismo energético de uma linhagem de células de Schwann humanas (ST8814) infectadas in vitro por M. leprae purificado a partir de extratos de coxim plantar de camundongos atímicos nu/nu. Analisamos processos de entrada e quebra de glicose, a fermentação, potencial elétrico mitocondrial e biossíntese de lipídios. A internalização de glicose foi avaliada através do seu análogo fluorescente 2-NBDG e o potencial elétrico mitocondrial monitorado através da sonda lipofílica catiônica TMRMPara analisar a fermentação da glicose quantificamos lactato através do kit lactato liquiform (Labtest) e analisamos a atividade da enzima lactato desidogenase (LDH) em suas duas isoformas...

Mycobacterium leprae, an intracellular pathogen which causes leprosy, is able toinfect Schwann cells (SC) in peripheral nervous system. These cells are responsible formyelination and release of metabolites such as lactate and pyruvate to axons and signaltransduction in peripheral nerves. The host-pathogen interaction in leprosy has been target ofseveral studies of immune modulation, demyelination and lipid metabolism. However,modulations on the energy metabolism of these cells during infection by mycobacteria remainunknown. Here, we performed an in vitro study of the energy metabolism in the human SCcell line ST8814 infected with M. leprae purified from footpads of athymic mice and evaluatethe glucose uptake and cleavage, fermentation, mitochondrial electrical potential and lipidbiosynthesis. The glucose uptake was evaluated using a fluorescent analog, 2-NBDG, andmitochondrial electrical potential monitored using a lipophilic cationic probe, TMRM. Also,fermentation was evaluated by lactate quantification using Liquiform kit (Labtest) and byactivity of lactate desidogenase (LDH) enzyme into its two isoforms...