BOTH THE INFECTION STATUS AND INFLAMMATORY MICROENVIRONMENT INDUCE TRANSCRIPTIONAL REMODELING IN MACROPHAGES IN MURINE LEISHMANIAL LESIONS.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is caused by infection with the protozoan parasite Leishmania, which resides intracellularly in dermal macrophages (Mø), producing lesions. The skin lesions are characterized by proinflammatory cytokines and growth factors as well as inflammatory hypoxia, creating a stressful microenvironment for Mø. Of importance, not all Mø in lesions harbor parasites. To distinguish the influence of the parasite from the inflammatory microenvironment after Leishmania major (LM) infection on the Mø, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing and compared Mø associated with LM transcripts (or 'infected' Mø) with Mø not associated with LM transcripts (or 'bystander' Mø) within the lesions. Our findings show coordinated lysosomal expression and regulation signaling with increased cathepsin and H+-ATPase transcripts are upregulated in infected compared with bystander Mø. Additionally, eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (EIF2) signaling is downregulated in infected compared with bystander Mø, which includes many small and large ribosomal subunit (Rps and Rpl) transcripts being decreased in Mø harboring parasites. Furthermore, we also find EIF2 signaling including EIF, Rps, and Rpl transcripts being downregulated in bystander Mø compared with Mø from naïve skin. These data suggest that both the parasite and the inflammatory host microenvironment affect the transcription of ribosomal machinery in lesional Mø, thereby potentially affecting the ability of these cells to perform translation, protein synthesis, and thus function. Altogether, these results suggest that both the parasite and host inflammatory microenvironment independently drive transcriptional remodeling in Mø during LM infection in vivo.

In vivo transcriptional analysis of mice infected with Leishmania major unveils cellular heterogeneity and altered transcriptomic profiling at single-cell resolution.

Leishmania parasites cause cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), a disease characterized by disfiguring, ulcerative skin lesions. Both parasite and host gene expression following infection with various Leishmania species has been investigated in vitro, but global transcriptional analysis following L. major infection in vivo is lacking. Thus, we conducted a comprehensive transcriptomic profiling study combining bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) to identify global changes in gene expression in vivo following L. major infection. Bulk RNA-Seq analysis revealed that host immune response pathways like the antigen processing and presentation pathway were significantly enriched amongst differentially expressed genes (DEGs) upon infection, while ribosomal pathways were significantly downregulated in infected mice compared to naive controls. scRNA-Seq analyses revealed cellular heterogeneity including distinct resident and recruited cell types in the skin following murine L. major infection. Within the individual immune cell types, several DEGs indicative of many interferon induced GTPases and antigen presentation molecules were significantly enhanced in the infected ears including macrophages, resident macrophages, and inflammatory monocytes. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis of scRNA-Seq data indicated the antigen presentation pathway was increased with infection, while EIF2 signaling is the top downregulated pathway followed by eIF4/p70S6k and mTOR signaling in multiple cell types including macrophages, blood and lymphatic endothelial cells. Altogether, this transcriptomic profile highlights known recruitment of myeloid cells to lesions and recognizes a potential role for EIF2 signaling in murine L. major infection in vivo.

Dynamic contraction and fatigue analysis in biceps brachii muscles using synchrosqueezed wavelet transform and singular value features.

In this study, the dynamic contractions and the associated fatigue condition in biceps brachii muscle are analysed using Synchrosqueezed Wavelet Transform (SST) and singular value features of surface Electromyography (sEMG) signals. For this, the recorded signals are decomposed into time-frequency matrix using SST. Two analytic functions namely Morlet and Bump wavelets are utilised for the analysis. Singular Value Decomposition method is applied to this time-frequency matrix to derive the features such as Maximum Singular Value (MSV), Singular Value Entropy (SVEn) and Singular Value Energy (SVEr). The results show that both these wavelets are able to characterise nonstationary variations in sEMG signals during dynamic fatiguing contractions. Increase in values of MSV and SVEr with the progression of fatigue denotes the presence of nonstationarity in the sEMG signals. The lower values of SVEn with the progression of fatigue indicate the randomness in the signal. Thus, it appears that the proposed approach could be used to characterise dynamic muscle contractions under varied neuromuscular conditions.

HIF-α Activation Impacts Macrophage Function during Murine Leishmania major Infection.

Leishmanial skin lesions are characterized by inflammatory hypoxia alongside the activation of hypoxia-inducible factors, HIF-1α and HIF-2α, and subsequent expression of the HIF-α target VEGF-A during Leishmania major infection. However, the factors responsible for HIF-α activation are not known. We hypothesize that hypoxia and proinflammatory stimuli contribute to HIF-α activation during infection. RNA-Seq of leishmanial lesions revealed that transcripts associated with HIF-1α signaling were induced. To determine whether hypoxia contributes to HIF-α activation, we followed the fate of myeloid cells infiltrating from the blood and into hypoxic lesions. Recruited myeloid cells experienced hypoxia when they entered inflamed lesions, and the length of time in lesions increased their hypoxic signature. To determine whether proinflammatory stimuli in the inflamed tissue can also influence HIF-α activation, we subjected macrophages to various proinflammatory stimuli and measured VEGF-A. While parasites alone did not induce VEGF-A, and proinflammatory stimuli only modestly induced VEGF-A, HIF-α stabilization increased VEGF-A during infection. HIF-α stabilization did not impact parasite entry, growth, or killing. Conversely, the absence of ARNT/HIF-α signaling enhanced parasite internalization. Altogether, these findings suggest that HIF-α is active during infection, and while macrophage HIF-α activation promotes lymphatic remodeling through VEGF-A production, HIF-α activation does not impact parasite internalization or control.

Hypoxia-Inducible Factor Signaling in Macrophages Promotes Lymphangiogenesis in Leishmania major Infection.

Vascular remodeling is a phenomenon seen in the cutaneous lesions formed during infection with Leishmania parasites. Within the lesion, Leishmania major infection leads to the infiltration of inflammatory cells, including macrophages, and is associated with hypoxic conditions and lymphangiogenesis in the local site. This low-oxygen environment is concomitant with the expression of hypoxic inducible factors (HIFs), which initiate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) in macrophages during the infection. Here, we found that macrophage hypoxia is elevated in the skin, and the HIF target Vegfa is preferentially expressed at the site of infection. Further, transcripts indicative of both HIF-1α and HIF-2α activation were increased at the site of infection. Given that HIF mediates VEGF-A and that VEGF-A/VEGFR-2 signaling induces lymphangiogenesis, we wanted to investigate the link between myeloid HIF activation and lymphangiogenesis during L. major infection. We show that myeloid aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT)/HIF/VEGF-A signaling promotes lymphangiogenesis (the generation of newly formed vessels within the local lymphatic network), which helps resolve the lesion by draining away inflammatory cells and fluid. Concomitant with impaired lymphangiogenesis, we find the deletion of myeloid ARNT/HIF signaling leads to an exacerbated inflammatory response associated with a heightened CD4+ Th1 immune response following L. major infection. Altogether, our data suggest that VEGF-A-mediated lymphangiogenesis occurs through myeloid ARNT/HIF activation following Leishmania major infection and this process is critical in limiting immunopathology.

Association of a PD-L2 Gene Polymorphism with Chronic Lymphatic Filariasis in a South Indian Cohort.

Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a parasitic infection, caused by three closely related nematodes, namely Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, and Brugia timori. Previously, we have shown that lysate from B. malayi microfilariae induces the expression of interleukin (IL)-10 and programmed death-ligand (PD-L) 1 on monocytes, which lead to inhibition of CD4+ T-cell responses. In this study, we investigated associations of IL-10 and programmed cell death (PD)-1 pathway gene polymorphisms with clinical manifestation in LF. We evaluated the frequency of alleles and genotypes of IL-10 (rs3024496, rs1800872), IL-10RA (rs3135932), IL-10RB (rs2834167), PD-1 (rs2227982, rs10204525), PD-L1 (rs4143815), PD-L2 (rs7854413), and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 103 patients with chronic pathology (CP), such as elephantiasis or hydrocele and 106 endemic normal (EN) individuals from a South Indian population living in an area endemic for LF. Deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were tested, and we found a significant difference between the frequency of polymorphisms in PD-L2 (rs7854413; P < 0.001) and IL-10RB (rs2834167; P = 0.012) between the CP and the EN group, whereas there were no significant differences found among IL-10, IL-10RA, PD-1, and PD-L1 SNPs. A multivariate analysis showed that the existence of a CC genotype in PD-L2 SNP rs7854413 is associated with a higher risk of developing CP (OR: 2.942; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.957-9.046; P = 0.06). Altogether, these data indicate that a genetically determined individual difference in a non-synonymous missense SNP of PD-L2 might influence the susceptibility to CP.

Differential immunomodulation in human monocytes versus macrophages by filarial cystatin.

Parasitic nematodes have evolved powerful immunomodulatory molecules to enable their survival in immunocompetent hosts by subverting immune responses and minimizing pathological processes. One filarial molecule known to counteract host immune responses by inducing IL-10 and regulatory macrophages in mice is filarial cystatin. During a patent filarial infection monocytes encounter microfilariae in the blood, an event that occurs in asymptomatically infected filariasis patients that are immunologically hyporeactive. The microfilarial larval stage was formerly shown to induce human regulatory monocytes and macrophages. Thus, here we aim was to determine how filarial cystatin of the human pathogenic filaria Brugia malayi (BmCPI-2) contributes to immune hyporesponsiveness in human monocytes and macrophages elicited by microfilaria. For this purpose, filarial cystatin was depleted from microfilarial lysate (Mf). Detecting the immunomodulatory potential of cystatin-depleted Mf revealed that IL-10, but not IL-8 and IL-6 induction in monocytes and macrophages is dependent on the presence of cystatin. In addition, the Mf-induced expression of the regulatory surface markers PD-L1 and PD-L2 in human monocytes, but not in macrophages, is dependent on cystatin. While Mf-treated monocytes result in decreased CD4+ T-cell proliferation in a co-culture assay, stimulation of T-cells with human monocytes treated with cystatin-depleted Mf lead to a restoration of CD4+ T-cell proliferation. Moreover, IL-10 induction by cystatin within Mf was dependent on p38 and ERK in macrophages, but independent of the ERK pathway in monocytes. These findings indicate that filarial nematodes differentially trigger and exploit various signaling pathways to induce immunomodulation in different myeloid cell subsets.

Brugia malayi microfilariae induce a regulatory monocyte/macrophage phenotype that suppresses innate and adaptive immune responses.

BACKGROUND: Monocytes and macrophages contribute to the dysfunction of immune responses in human filariasis. During patent infection monocytes encounter microfilariae in the blood, an event that occurs in asymptomatically infected filariasis patients that are immunologically hyporeactive. AIM: To determine whether blood microfilariae directly act on blood monocytes and in vitro generated macrophages to induce a regulatory phenotype that interferes with innate and adaptive responses. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Monocytes and in vitro generated macrophages from filaria non-endemic normal donors were stimulated in vitro with Brugia malayi microfilarial (Mf) lysate. We could show that monocytes stimulated with Mf lysate develop a defined regulatory phenotype, characterised by expression of the immunoregulatory markers IL-10 and PD-L1. Significantly, this regulatory phenotype was recapitulated in monocytes from Wuchereria bancrofti asymptomatically infected patients but not patients with pathology or endemic normals. Monocytes from non-endemic donors stimulated with Mf lysate directly inhibited CD4+ T cell proliferation and cytokine production (IFN-γ, IL-13 and IL-10). IFN-γ responses were restored by neutralising IL-10 or PD-1. Furthermore, macrophages stimulated with Mf lysate expressed high levels of IL-10 and had suppressed phagocytic abilities. Finally Mf lysate applied during the differentiation of macrophages in vitro interfered with macrophage abilities to respond to subsequent LPS stimulation in a selective manner. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: Conclusively, our study demonstrates that Mf lysate stimulation of monocytes from healthy donors in vitro induces a regulatory phenotype, characterized by expression of PD-L1 and IL-10. This phenotype is directly reflected in monocytes from filarial patients with asymptomatic infection but not patients with pathology or endemic normals. We suggest that suppression of T cell functions typically seen in lymphatic filariasis is caused by microfilaria-modulated monocytes in an IL-10-dependent manner. Together with suppression of macrophage innate responses, this may contribute to the overall down-regulation of immune responses observed in asymptomatically infected patients.