RESUMO
Most patients with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit develop an acute respiratory distress syndrome characterized by severe hypoxemia, decreased lung compliance, and high vascular permeability. Activation of the complement system is a hallmark of moderate and severe COVID-19, with abundant deposition of complement proteins in inflamed tissue and on the endothelium during COVID-19. Using a transgenic mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, we assessed the therapeutic utility of an inhibitory antibody (HG4) targeting MASP-2, a key enzyme in the lectin pathway. Treatment of infected mice with HG4 reduced the disease severity score and improved survival vs mice that received an isotype control antibody. Administration of HG4 significantly reduced the lung injury score, including alveolar inflammatory cell infiltration, alveolar edema, and alveolar hemorrhage. The ameliorating effect of MASP-2 inhibition on the severity of COVID-19 pathology is reflected by a significant reduction in the proinflammatory activation of brain microglia in HG4-treated mice.
Assuntos
COVID-19 , Síndrome do Desconforto Respiratório , Humanos , Animais , Camundongos , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose/metabolismo , SARS-CoV-2/metabolismo , Ativação do Complemento , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Proteínas do Sistema ComplementoRESUMO
The lectin pathway (LP) of complement mediates inflammatory processes linked to tissue damage and loss of function following traumatic brain injury (TBI). LP activation triggers a cascade of proteolytic events initiated by LP specific enzymes called MASPs (for Mannan-binding lectin Associated Serine Proteases). Elevated serum and brain levels of MASP-2, the effector enzyme of the LP, were previously reported to be associated with the severity of tissue injury and poor outcomes in patients with TBI. To evaluate the therapeutic potential of LP inhibition in TBI, we first conducted a pilot study testing the effect of an inhibitory MASP-2 antibody (α-MASP-2), administered systemically at 4 and 24 h post-TBI in a mouse model of controlled cortical impact (CCI). Treatment with α-MASP-2 reduced sensorimotor and cognitive deficits for up to 5 weeks post-TBI. As previous studies by others postulated a critical role of MASP-1 in LP activation, we conducted an additional study that also assessed treatment with an inhibitory MASP-1 antibody (α-MASP-1). A total of 78 mice were treated intraperitoneally with either α-MASP-2, or α-MASP-1, or an isotype control antibody 4 h and 24 h after TBI or sham injury. An amelioration of the cognitive deficits assessed by Barnes Maze, prespecified as the primary study endpoint, was exclusively observed in the α-MASP-2-treated group. The behavioral data were paralleled by a reduction of the lesion size when evaluated histologically and by reduced systemic LP activity. Our data suggest that inhibition of the LP effector enzyme MASP-2 is a promising treatment strategy to limit neurological deficits and tissue loss following TBI. Our work has translational value because a MASP-2 antibody has already completed multiple late-stage clinical trials in other indications and we used a clinically relevant treatment protocol testing the therapeutic mechanism of MASP-2 inhibition in TBI.
Assuntos
Lesões Encefálicas Traumáticas , Transtornos Cognitivos , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose , Animais , Masculino , Camundongos , Lesões Encefálicas Traumáticas/complicações , Lesões Encefálicas Traumáticas/tratamento farmacológico , Lesões Encefálicas Traumáticas/patologia , Transtornos Cognitivos/etiologia , Transtornos Cognitivos/tratamento farmacológico , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose/antagonistas & inibidores , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose/metabolismo , Aprendizagem em Labirinto/efeitos dos fármacos , Aprendizagem em Labirinto/fisiologia , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BLRESUMO
The multiprotein complex C1 initiates the classical pathway of complement activation on binding to antibody-antigen complexes, pathogen surfaces, apoptotic cells, and polyanionic structures. It is formed from the recognition subcomponent C1q and a tetramer of proteases C1r2C1s2 as a Ca2+-dependent complex. Here we have determined the structure of a complex between the CUB1-EGF-CUB2 fragments of C1r and C1s to reveal the C1r-C1s interaction that forms the core of C1. Both fragments are L-shaped and interlock to form a compact antiparallel heterodimer with a Ca2+ from each subcomponent at the interface. Contacts, involving all three domains of each protease, are more extensive than those of C1r or C1s homodimers, explaining why heterocomplexes form preferentially. The available structural and biophysical data support a model of C1r2C1s2 in which two C1r-C1s dimers are linked via the catalytic domains of C1r. They are incompatible with a recent model in which the N-terminal domains of C1r and C1s form a fixed tetramer. On binding to C1q, the proteases become more compact, with the C1r-C1s dimers at the center and the six collagenous stems of C1q arranged around the perimeter. Activation is likely driven by separation of the C1r-C1s dimer pairs when C1q binds to a surface. Considerable flexibility in C1s likely facilitates C1 complex formation, activation of C1s by C1r, and binding and activation of downstream substrates C4 and C4b-bound C2 to initiate the reaction cascade.
Assuntos
Complemento C1r/metabolismo , Complemento C1s/metabolismo , Animais , Células CHO , Cricetulus , Dimerização , Domínios ProteicosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Enterococcus faecalis is considered to be the most important species of enterococci responsible for blood stream infections in critically ill patients. In blood, the complement system is activated via the classical pathway (CP), the lectin pathway (LP), or the alternative pathway (AP), and it plays a critical role in opsonophagocytosis of bacteria including E faecalis. METHODS: In a mouse model of enterococcus peritonitis, BALB-C mice were challenged with a high dose of E faecalis 12 hours after intraperitoneal administration of anti-Factor H (FH) antibodies or isotype control. Four hours later, control mice developed higher bacterial burden in blood and organs compared with mice treated with anti-FH antibodies. RESULTS: We demonstrate that complement recognition molecules C1q, CL-11, and murine ficolin-A bind the enterococcus and drive the CP and the LP in human and mouse. We further describe that E faecalis evades the AP by recruitment of FH on its surface. Our results show a strong C3b deposition on E faecalis via both the CP and the LP but not through the AP. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that E faecalis avoids the complement phagocytosis by the AP via sequestering complement FH from the host blood.
Assuntos
Fator H do Complemento/imunologia , Proteínas do Sistema Complemento/imunologia , Enterococcus faecalis/imunologia , Infecções por Bactérias Gram-Positivas/imunologia , Peritonite/imunologia , Animais , Anticorpos Antibacterianos/sangue , Complemento C3b/imunologia , Complemento C4b/imunologia , Lectina de Ligação a Manose da Via do Complemento/imunologia , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Humanos , Lectinas , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Peritonite/microbiologia , Peritonite/patologia , Fagocitose/imunologia , FicolinasRESUMO
Complement is a critical component of antimicrobial immunity. Various complement regulatory proteins prevent host cells from being attacked. Many pathogens have acquired the ability to sequester complement regulators from host plasma to evade complement attack. We describe here how Streptococcus pneumoniae adopts a strategy to prevent the formation of the C3 convertase C4bC2a by the rapid conversion of surface bound C4b and iC4b into C4dg, which remains bound to the bacterial surface but no longer forms a convertase complex. Noncapsular virulence factors on the pneumococcus are thought to facilitate this process by sequestering C4b-binding protein (C4BP) from host plasma. When S. pneumoniae D39 was opsonized with human serum, the larger C4 activation products C4b and iC4b were undetectable, but the bacteria were liberally decorated with C4dg and C4BP. With targeted deletions of either PspA or PspC, C4BP deposition was markedly reduced, and there was a corresponding reduction in C4dg and an increase in the deposition of C4b and iC4b. The effect was greatest when PspA and PspC were both knocked out. Infection experiments in mice indicated that the deletion of PspA and/or PspC resulted in the loss of bacterial pathogenicity. Recombinant PspA and PspC both bound serum C4BP, and both led to increased C4b and reduced C4dg deposition on S. pneumoniae D39. We conclude that PspA and PspC help the pneumococcus to evade complement attack by binding C4BP and so inactivating C4b.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Bactérias/metabolismo , Proteína de Ligação ao Complemento C4b/metabolismo , Complemento C4b/antagonistas & inibidores , Evasão da Resposta Imune , Streptococcus pneumoniae/imunologia , Animais , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Humanos , Camundongos , Infecções Pneumocócicas/microbiologia , Ligação Proteica , Streptococcus pneumoniae/patogenicidadeRESUMO
Properdin is the only known positive regulator of complement activation by stabilizing the alternative pathway convertase through C3 binding, thus prolonging its half-life. Recent in vitro studies suggest that properdin may act as a specific pattern recognition molecule. To better understand the role of properdin in vivo, we used an experimental model of acute anti-glomerular basement membrane disease with wild-type, C3- and properdin knockout mice. The model exhibited severe proteinuria, acute neutrophil infiltration and activation, classical and alternative pathway activation, and progressive glomerular deposition of properdin, C3 and C9. Although the acute renal injury was likely due to acute neutrophil activation, we found properdin deposition in C3-knockout mice that was not associated with IgG. Thus, properdin may deposit in injured tissues in vivo independent of its main ligand C3.
Assuntos
Doença Antimembrana Basal Glomerular/imunologia , Ativação do Complemento/imunologia , Complemento C3/imunologia , Properdina/imunologia , Animais , Doença Antimembrana Basal Glomerular/patologia , Complemento C3/genética , Complemento C3/metabolismo , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Feminino , Membrana Basal Glomerular/citologia , Membrana Basal Glomerular/imunologia , Membrana Basal Glomerular/patologia , Humanos , Imunoglobulina G/administração & dosagem , Imunoglobulina G/imunologia , Masculino , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos Knockout , Neutrófilos/imunologia , Properdina/genética , Properdina/metabolismo , Ligação Proteica/imunologiaRESUMO
All 3 activation pathways of complement-the classic pathway (CP), the alternative pathway, and the lectin pathway (LP)- converge into a common central event: the cleavage and activation of the abundant third complement component, C3, via formation of C3-activating enzymes (C3 convertases). The fourth complement component, C4, and the second component, C2, are indispensable constituents of the C3 convertase complex, C4bC2a, which is formed by both the CP and the LP. Whereas in the absence of C4, CP can no longer activate C3, LP retains a residual but physiologically critical capacity to convert native C3 into its activation fragments, C3a and C3b. This residual C4 and/or C2 bypass route is dependent on LP-specific mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2. By using various serum sources with defined complement deficiencies, we demonstrate that, under physiologic conditions LP-specific C4 and/or C2 bypass activation of C3 is mediated by direct cleavage of native C3 by mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2 bound to LP-activation complexes captured on ligand-coated surfaces.-Yaseen, S., Demopulos, G., Dudler, T., Yabuki, M., Wood, C. L., Cummings, W. J., Tjoelker, L. W., Fujita, T., Sacks, S., Garred, P., Andrew, P., Sim, R. B., Lachmann, P. J., Wallis, R., Lynch, N., Schwaeble, W. J. Lectin pathway effector enzyme mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2 can activate native complement C3 in absence of C4 and/or C2.
Assuntos
Ativação do Complemento/fisiologia , Complemento C2/metabolismo , Complemento C3/metabolismo , Complemento C4/metabolismo , Lectinas/metabolismo , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose/metabolismo , HumanosRESUMO
Citrobacter rodentium is an attaching and effacing mouse pathogen that models enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli in humans. The complement system is an important innate defense mechanism; however, only scant information is available about the role of complement proteins during enteric infections. In this study, we examined the impact of the lack of properdin, a positive regulator of complement, in C. rodentium-induced colitis. Following infection, properdin knockout (P(KO)) mice had increased diarrhea and exacerbated inflammation combined with defective epithelial cell-derived IL-6 and greater numbers of colonizing bacteria. The defect in the mucosal response was reversed by administering exogenous properdin to P(KO) mice. Then, using in vitro and in vivo approaches, we show that the mechanism behind the exacerbated inflammation of P(KO) mice is due to a failure to increase local C5a levels. We show that C5a directly stimulates IL-6 production from colonic epithelial cells and that inhibiting C5a in infected wild-type mice resulted in defective epithelial IL-6 production and exacerbated inflammation. These outcomes position properdin early in the response to an infectious challenge in the colon, leading to complement activation and C5a, which in turn provides protection through IL-6 expression by the epithelium. Our results unveil a previously unappreciated mechanism of intestinal homeostasis involving complement, C5a, and IL-6 during bacteria-triggered epithelial injury.
Assuntos
Citrobacter rodentium/imunologia , Complemento C5a/imunologia , Enterite/etiologia , Infecções por Enterobacteriaceae/imunologia , Infecções por Enterobacteriaceae/metabolismo , Interleucina-6/metabolismo , Properdina/imunologia , Animais , Linhagem Celular , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Progressão da Doença , Infecções por Enterobacteriaceae/genética , Infecções por Enterobacteriaceae/patologia , Mucosa Intestinal/imunologia , Mucosa Intestinal/metabolismo , Mucosa Intestinal/patologia , Camundongos , Camundongos Knockout , Properdina/genéticaRESUMO
Modern medicine has established three central antimicrobial therapeutic concepts: vaccination, antibiotics, and, recently, the use of active immunotherapy to enhance the immune response toward specific pathogens. The efficacy of vaccination and antibiotics is limited by the emergence of new pathogen strains and the increased incidence of antibiotic resistance. To date, immunotherapy development has focused mainly on cytokines. Here we report the successful therapeutic application of a complement component, a recombinant form of properdin (Pn), with significantly higher activity than native properdin, which promotes complement activation via the alternative pathway, affording protection against N. menigitidis and S. pneumoniae. In a mouse model of infection, we challenged C57BL/6 WT mice with N. menigitidis B-MC58 6 h after i.p. administration of Pn (100 µg/mouse) or buffer alone. Twelve hours later, all control mice showed clear symptoms of infectious disease while the Pn treated group looked healthy. After 16 hours, all control mice developed sepsis and had to be culled, while only 10% of Pn treated mice presented with sepsis and recoverable levels of live Meningococci. In a parallel experiment, mice were challenged intranasally with a lethal dose of S. pneumoniae D39. Mice that received a single i.p. dose of Pn at the time of infection showed no signs of bacteremia at 12 h postinfection and had prolonged survival times compared with the saline-treated control group (P < 0.0001). Our findings show a significant therapeutic benefit of Pn administration and suggest that its antimicrobial activity could open new avenues for fighting infections caused by multidrug-resistant neisserial or streptococcal strains.
Assuntos
Infecções Meningocócicas/prevenção & controle , Neisseria meningitidis/isolamento & purificação , Infecções Pneumocócicas/prevenção & controle , Properdina/farmacologia , Animais , Vacinas Bacterianas/administração & dosagem , Relação Dose-Resposta a Droga , Infecções Meningocócicas/microbiologia , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Proteínas Recombinantes/farmacologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Complement activation via the lectin activation pathway (LP) has been identified as the key mechanism behind post-ischemic tissue inflammation causing ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) which can significantly impact the clinical outcome of ischemic disease. This work defines the contributions of each of the three LP-associated enzymes-mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease (MASP)-1, MASP-2, and MASP-3-to ischemic brain injury in experimental mouse models of stroke. METHODS: Focal cerebral ischemia was induced in wild-type (WT) mice or mice deficient for defined complement components by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) or three-vessel occlusion (3VO). The inhibitory MASP-2 antibody was administered systemically 7 and 3.5 days before and at reperfusion in WT mice in order to assure an effective MASP-2 inhibition throughout the study. Forty-eight hours after ischemia, neurological deficits and infarct volumes were assessed. C3 deposition and microglia/macrophage morphology were detected by immunohistochemical, immunofluorescence, and confocal analyses. RESULTS: MASP-2-deficient mice (MASP-2(-/-)) and WT mice treated with an antibody that blocks MASP-2 activity had significantly reduced neurological deficits and histopathological damage after transient ischemia and reperfusion compared to WT or control-treated mice. Surprisingly, MASP-1/3(-/-) mice were not protected, while mice deficient in factor B (fB(-/-)) showed reduced neurological deficits compared to WT mice. Consistent with behavioral and histological data, MASP-2(-/-) had attenuated C3 deposition and presented with a significantly higher proportion of ramified, surveying microglia in contrast to the hypertrophic pro-inflammatory microglia/macrophage phenotype seen in the ischemic brain tissue of WT mice. CONCLUSIONS: This work demonstrates the essential role of the low-abundant MASP-2 in the mediation of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury and demonstrates that targeting MASP-2 by an inhibitory therapeutic antibody markedly improved the neurological and histopathological outcome after focal cerebral ischemia. These results contribute to identifying the key lectin pathway component driving brain tissue injury following cerebral ischemia and call for a revision of the presently widely accepted view that MASP-1 is an essential activator of the lectin pathway effector component MASP-2.
Assuntos
Lesões Encefálicas/enzimologia , Isquemia Encefálica/enzimologia , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose/metabolismo , Animais , Lesões Encefálicas/patologia , Isquemia Encefálica/patologia , Masculino , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos KnockoutRESUMO
Complement component C1, the complex that initiates the classical pathway of complement activation, is a 790-kDa assembly formed from the target-recognition subcomponent C1q and the modular proteases C1r and C1s. The proteases are elongated tetramers that become more compact when they bind to the collagen-like domains of C1q. Here, we describe a series of structures that reveal how the subcomponents associate to form C1. A complex between C1s and a collagen-like peptide containing the C1r/C1s-binding motif of C1q shows that the collagen binds to a shallow groove via a critical lysine side chain that contacts Ca(2+)-coordinating residues. The data explain the Ca(2+)-dependent binding mechanism, which is conserved in C1r and also in mannan-binding lectin-associated serine proteases, the serine proteases of the lectin pathway activation complexes. In an accompanying structure, C1s forms a compact ring-shaped tetramer featuring a unique head-to-tail interaction at its center that replicates the likely arrangement of C1r/C1s polypeptides in the C1 complex. Additional structures reveal how C1s polypeptides are positioned to enable activation by C1r and interaction with the substrate C4 inside the cage-like assembly formed by the collagenous stems of C1q. Together with previously determined structures of C1r fragments, the results reported here provide a structural basis for understanding the early steps of complement activation via the classical pathway.
Assuntos
Ativação do Complemento/imunologia , Complemento C1/química , Complemento C1q/química , Complemento C1s/química , Imunidade Inata/imunologia , Modelos Moleculares , Conformação Proteica , Animais , Células CHO , Cromatografia de Afinidade , Cromatografia em Gel , Ativação do Complemento/genética , Complemento C1q/metabolismo , Complemento C1s/metabolismo , Cricetinae , Cricetulus , Cristalização , Escherichia coli , Ligação ProteicaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Collectin-K1 (CL-K1, or CL-11) is a multifunctional Ca(2+)-dependent lectin with roles in innate immunity, apoptosis and embryogenesis. It binds to carbohydrates on pathogens to activate the lectin pathway of complement and together with its associated serine protease MASP-3 serves as a guidance cue for neural crest development. High serum levels are associated with disseminated intravascular coagulation, where spontaneous clotting can lead to multiple organ failure. Autosomal mutations in the CL-K1 or MASP-3 genes cause a developmental disorder called 3MC (Carnevale, Mingarelli, Malpuech and Michels) syndrome, characterised by facial, genital, renal and limb abnormalities. One of these mutations (Gly(204)Ser in the CL-K1 gene) is associated with undetectable levels of protein in the serum of affected individuals. RESULTS: In this study, we show that CL-K1 primarily targets a subset of high-mannose oligosaccharides present on both self- and non-self structures, and provide the structural basis for its ligand specificity. We also demonstrate that three disease-associated mutations prevent secretion of CL-K1 from mammalian cells, accounting for the protein deficiency observed in patients. Interestingly, none of the mutations prevent folding or oligomerization of recombinant fragments containing the mutations in vitro. Instead, they prevent Ca(2+) binding by the carbohydrate-recognition domains of CL-K1. We propose that failure to bind Ca(2+) during biosynthesis leads to structural defects that prevent secretion of CL-K1, thus providing a molecular explanation of the genetic disorder. CONCLUSIONS: We have established the sugar specificity of CL-K1 and demonstrated that it targets high-mannose oligosaccharides on self- and non-self structures via an extended binding site which recognises the terminal two mannose residues of the carbohydrate ligand. We have also shown that mutations associated with a rare developmental disorder called 3MC syndrome prevent the secretion of CL-K1, probably as a result of structural defects caused by disruption of Ca(2+) binding during biosynthesis.
Assuntos
Anormalidades Múltiplas/genética , Carboidratos/química , Colectinas/genética , Colectinas/metabolismo , Mutação/genética , Animais , Células CHO , Cálcio/metabolismo , Bovinos , Colectinas/química , Ativação do Complemento , Cricetinae , Cricetulus , Cristalografia por Raios X , Dissacarídeos/metabolismo , Glicoproteínas/metabolismo , Humanos , Cinética , Ligantes , Modelos Moleculares , Proteínas Mutantes/metabolismo , Ligação Proteica , Biossíntese de Proteínas , Estrutura Secundária de Proteína , Estrutura Terciária de Proteína , Ratos , SíndromeRESUMO
Mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease 2 (MASP-2) has been described as the essential enzyme for the lectin pathway (LP) of complement activation. Since there is strong published evidence indicating that complement activation via the LP critically contributes to ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury, we assessed the effect of MASP-2 deficiency in an isogenic mouse model of renal transplantation. The experimental transplantation model used included nephrectomy of the remaining native kidney at d 5 post-transplantation. While wild-type (WT) kidneys grafted into WT recipients (n=7) developed acute renal failure (control group), WT grafts transplanted into MASP-2-deficient recipients (n=7) showed significantly better kidney function, less C3 deposition, and less IR injury. In the absence of donor or recipient complement C4 (n=7), the WT to WT phenotype was preserved, indicating that the MASP-2-mediated damage was independent of C4 activation. This C4-bypass MASP-2 activity was confirmed in mice deficient for both MASP-2 and C4 (n=7), where the protection from postoperative acute renal failure was no greater than in mice with MASP-2 deficiency alone. Our study highlights the role of LP activation in renal IR injury and indicates that injury occurs through MASP-2-dependent activation events independent of C4.
Assuntos
Complemento C4/fisiologia , Nefropatias/etiologia , Transplante de Rim , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose/fisiologia , Complicações Pós-Operatórias , Traumatismo por Reperfusão/etiologia , Animais , Nitrogênio da Ureia Sanguínea , Complemento C3d/metabolismo , Feminino , Técnicas Imunoenzimáticas , Nefropatias/metabolismo , Nefropatias/cirurgia , Masculino , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos Knockout , Nefrectomia , Traumatismo por Reperfusão/metabolismo , Traumatismo por Reperfusão/cirurgiaRESUMO
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a complex inflammatory vascular disease. There are currently limited treatment options for AAA when surgery is inapplicable. Therefore, insights into molecular mechanisms underlying AAA pathogenesis may reveal therapeutic targets that could be manipulated pharmacologically or biologically to halt disease progression. Using an elastase-induced AAA mouse model, we previously established that the complement alternative pathway (AP) plays a critical role in the development of AAA. However, the mechanism by which complement AP is initiated remains undefined. The complement protein properdin, traditionally viewed as a positive regulator of the AP, may also initiate complement activation by binding directly to target surfaces. In this study, we sought to determine whether properdin serves as a focal point for the initiation of the AP complement activation in AAA. Using a properdin loss of function mutation in mice and a mutant form of the complement factor B protein that produces a stable, properdin-free AP C3 convertase, we show that properdin is required for the development of elastase-induced AAA in its primary role as a convertase stabilizer. Unexpectedly, we find that, in AAA, natural IgG antibodies direct AP-mediated complement activation. The absence of IgG abrogates C3 deposition in elastase-perfused aortic wall and protects animals from AAA development. We also determine that blockade of properdin activity prevents aneurysm formation. These results indicate that an innate immune response to self-antigens activates the complement system and initiates the inflammatory cascade in AAA. Moreover, the study suggests that properdin-targeting strategies may halt aneurysmal growth.
Assuntos
Aneurisma da Aorta Abdominal/metabolismo , Proteínas do Sistema Complemento/metabolismo , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Properdina/metabolismo , Animais , Antibacterianos/farmacologia , Ativação do Complemento/efeitos dos fármacos , CamundongosRESUMO
The complement system plays a key role in host defense against pneumococcal infection. Three different pathways, the classical, alternative and lectin pathways, mediate complement activation. While there is limited information available on the roles of the classical and the alternative activation pathways of complement in fighting streptococcal infection, little is known about the role of the lectin pathway, mainly due to the lack of appropriate experimental models of lectin pathway deficiency. We have recently established a mouse strain deficient of the lectin pathway effector enzyme mannan-binding lectin associated serine protease-2 (MASP-2) and shown that this mouse strain is unable to form the lectin pathway specific C3 and C5 convertases. Here we report that MASP-2 deficient mice (which can still activate complement via the classical pathway and the alternative pathway) are highly susceptible to pneumococcal infection and fail to opsonize Streptococcus pneumoniae in the none-immune host. This defect in complement opsonisation severely compromises pathogen clearance in the lectin pathway deficient host. Using sera from mice and humans with defined complement deficiencies, we demonstrate that mouse ficolin A, human L-ficolin, and collectin 11 in both species, but not mannan-binding lectin (MBL), are the pattern recognition molecules that drive lectin pathway activation on the surface of S. pneumoniae. We further show that pneumococcal opsonisation via the lectin pathway can proceed in the absence of C4. This study corroborates the essential function of MASP-2 in the lectin pathway and highlights the importance of MBL-independent lectin pathway activation in the host defense against pneumococci.
Assuntos
Ativação do Complemento , Imunidade Inata , Lectinas/imunologia , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose/metabolismo , Infecções Pneumocócicas/imunologia , Streptococcus pneumoniae/imunologia , Animais , Colectinas/metabolismo , Complemento C4/imunologia , Humanos , Lectinas/metabolismo , Lectina de Ligação a Manose/metabolismo , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose/deficiência , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose/genética , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos Knockout , Proteínas Opsonizantes , Receptores de Reconhecimento de Padrão/metabolismo , FicolinasRESUMO
Streptococcus pneumoniae and Listeria monocytogenes, pathogens which can cause severe infectious disease in human, were used to infect properdin-deficient and wildtype mice. The aim was to deduce a role for properdin, positive regulator of the alternative pathway of complement activation, by comparing and contrasting the immune response of the two genotypes in vivo. We show that properdin-deficient and wildtype mice mounted antipneumococcal serotype-specific IgM antibodies, which were protective. Properdin-deficient mice, however, had increased survival in the model of streptococcal pneumonia and sepsis. Low activity of the classical pathway of complement and modulation of FcγR2b expression appear to be pathogenically involved. In listeriosis, however, properdin-deficient mice had reduced survival and a dendritic cell population that was impaired in maturation and activity. In vitro analyses of splenocytes and bone marrow-derived myeloid cells support the view that the opposing outcomes of properdin-deficient and wildtype mice in these two infection models is likely to be due to a skewing of macrophage activity to an M2 phenotype in the properdin-deficient mice. The phenotypes observed thus appear to reflect the extent to which M2- or M1-polarised macrophages are involved in the immune responses to S. pneumoniae and L. monocytogenes. We conclude that properdin controls the strength of immune responses by affecting humoral as well as cellular phenotypes during acute bacterial infection and ensuing inflammation.
Assuntos
Listeria monocytogenes/imunologia , Properdina/imunologia , Sepse/imunologia , Sepse/patologia , Streptococcus pneumoniae/imunologia , Animais , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Properdina/deficiência , Sepse/microbiologia , Análise de SobrevidaRESUMO
Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) and ficolin are complexed with MBL-associated serine proteases, key enzymes of complement activation via the lectin pathway, and act as soluble pattern recognition molecules in the innate immune system. Although numerous reports have revealed the importance of MBL in infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders, the role of ficolin is still unclear. To define the specific role of ficolin in vivo, we generated model mice deficient in ficolins. The ficolin A (FcnA)-deficient (Fcna(-/-)) and FcnA/ficolin B double-deficient (Fcna(-/-)b(-/-)) mice lacked FcnA-mediated complement activation in the sera, because of the absence of complexes comprising FcnA and MBL-associated serine proteases. When the host defense was evaluated by transnasal infection with a Streptococcus pneumoniae strain, which was recognized by ficolins, but not by MBLs, the survival rate was significantly reduced in all three ficolin-deficient (Fcna(-/-), Fcnb(-/-), and Fcna(-/-)b(-/-)) mice compared with wild-type mice. Reconstitution of the FcnA-mediated lectin pathway in vivo improved survival rate in Fcna(-/-) but not in Fcna(-/-)b(-/-) mice, suggesting that both FcnA and ficolin B are essential in defense against S. pneumoniae. These results suggest that ficolins play a crucial role in innate immunity against pneumococcal infection through the lectin complement pathway.
Assuntos
Ativação do Complemento/imunologia , Lectina de Ligação a Manose da Via do Complemento/genética , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Lectinas/deficiência , Lectinas/genética , Pneumonia Pneumocócica/imunologia , Streptococcus pneumoniae/imunologia , Animais , Células CHO , Ativação do Complemento/genética , Cricetinae , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose/deficiência , Serina Proteases Associadas a Proteína de Ligação a Manose/genética , Camundongos , Camundongos da Linhagem 129 , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos Knockout , Camundongos Transgênicos , Pneumonia Pneumocócica/enzimologia , Pneumonia Pneumocócica/genética , Streptococcus pneumoniae/genética , FicolinasRESUMO
Complement research experienced a renaissance with the discovery of a third activation route, the lectin pathway. We developed a unique model of total lectin pathway deficiency, a mouse strain lacking mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2 (MASP-2), and analyzed the role of MASP-2 in two models of postischemic reperfusion injury (IRI). In a model of transient myocardial IRI, MASP-2-deficient mice had significantly smaller infarct volumes than their wild-type littermates. Mice deficient in the downstream complement component C4 were not protected, suggesting the existence of a previously undescribed lectin pathway-dependent C4-bypass. Lectin pathway-mediated activation of C3 in the absence of C4 was demonstrated in vitro and shown to require MASP-2, C2, and MASP-1/3. MASP-2 deficiency also protects mice from gastrointestinal IRI, as do mAb-based inhibitors of MASP-2. The therapeutic effects of MASP-2 inhibition in this experimental model suggest the utility of anti-MASP-2 antibody therapy in reperfusion injury and other lectin pathway-mediated disorders.