Differential Enhancement of Neutrophil Phagocytosis by Anti-Bactericidal/Permeability-Increasing Protein Antibodies.

Bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) plays a major role in innate immunity through the ability of the N-terminal domain (NTD) to bind LPS, mediate cytotoxicity, and block LPS-induced inflammation. The C-terminal domain mediates phagocytosis of bacteria bound to the NTD. These two domains are linked by a surface-exposed loop at amino acids 231-249 for human BPI, known as the "hinge region." Autoantibodies to human BPI are prevalent in many chronic lung diseases; their presence is strongly correlated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and with worse lung function in patients with cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis. Although prior literature has reported BPI neutralization effect with autoantibodies targeting either NTD or C-terminal domain, the functionality of BPI Ab to the hinge region has never been investigated. Here, we report that Ab responses to the BPI hinge region mediate a remarkably selective potentiation of BPI-dependent phagocytosis of P. aeruginosa with both human and murine neutrophils in vitro and in vivo. These findings indicate that autoantibodies to the BPI hinge region might enhance bacterial clearance.

Bactericidal/Permeability-Increasing Protein Preeminently Mediates Clearance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa In Vivo via CD18-Dependent Phagocytosis.

Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection mysteriously occurs in the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), bronchiectasis (BE), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the absence of neutrophil dysfunction or neutropenia and is strongly associated with autoimmunity to bactericidal permeability-increasing protein (BPI). Here, we define a critical role for BPI in in vivo immunity against P. aeruginosa. Wild type and BPI-deficient (Bpi-/-) mice were infected with P. aeruginosa, and bacterial clearance, cell infiltrates, cytokine production, and in vivo phagocytosis were quantified. Bpi-/- mice exhibited a decreased ability to clear P. aeruginosa in vivo in concert with increased neutrophil counts and cytokine release. Bpi-/- neutrophils displayed decreased phagocytosis that was corrected by exogenous BPI in vitro. Exogenous BPI also enhanced clearance of P. aeruginosa in Bpi-/- mice in vivo by increasing P. aeruginosa uptake by neutrophils in a CD18-dependent manner. These data indicate that BPI plays an essential role in innate immunity against P. aeruginosa through its opsonic activity and suggest that perturbations in BPI levels or function may contribute to chronic lung infection with P. aeruginosa.

The extracellular loop of the membrane permease VraG interacts with GraS to sense cationic antimicrobial peptides in Staphylococcus aureus.

Host defense proteins (HDPs), aka defensins, are a key part of the innate immune system that functions by inserting into the bacterial membranes to form pores to kill invading and colonizing microorganisms. To ensure survival, microorganism such as S. aureus has developed survival strategies to sense and respond to HDPs. One key strategy in S. aureus is a two-component system (TCS) called GraRS coupled to an efflux pump that consists of a membrane permease VraG and an ATPase VraF, analogous to the BceRS-BceAB system of Bacillus subtilis but with distinct differences. While the 9 negatively charged amino acid extracellular loop of the membrane sensor GraS has been shown to be involved in sensing, the major question is how such a small loop can sense diverse HDPs. Mutation analysis in this study divulged that the vraG mutant phenocopied the graS mutant with respect to reduced activation of downstream effector mprF, reduction in surface positive charge and enhanced 2 hr. killing with LL-37 as compared with the parental MRSA strain JE2. In silico analysis revealed VraG contains a single 200-residue extracellular loop (EL) situated between the 7th and 8th transmembrane segments (out of 10). Remarkably, deletion of EL in VraG enhanced mprF expression, augmented surface positive charge and improved survival in LL-37 vs. parent JE2. As the EL of VraG is rich in lysine residues (16%), in contrast to a preponderance of negatively charged aspartic acid residues (3 out of 9) in the EL of GraS, we divulged the role of charge interaction by showing that K380 in the EL of VraG is an important residue that likely interacts with GraS to interfere with GraS-mediated signaling. Bacterial two-hybrid analysis also supported the interaction of EL of VraG with the EL of GraS. Collectively, we demonstrated an interesting facet of efflux pumps whereby the membrane permease disrupts HDP signaling by inhibiting GraS sensing that involves charged residues in the EL of VraG.