Laboratory of Microbiology and Immunology of Infection, Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 823,4150-180 Porto, Portugal1
Author for correspondence: M. Salomé Gomes. Tel: +351 226074900. Fax: +351 226099157. e-mail: sgomes{at}ibmc.up.pt
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ABSTRACT |
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Keywords: iron, antimicrobial, innate immunity
Abbreviations: BMM, bone-marrow-derived macrophages; IFN-
, gamma interferon; SmD, smooth domed; SmT, smooth transparent; TNF-
, tumour necrosis factor
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INTRODUCTION |
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It is now possible to readdress these questions using mice that were rendered deficient in one of the components of the NADPH oxidase, p47phox (Jackson et al., 1995 ). Segal et al. (1999)
have infected these mice with M. avium and saw no differences in susceptibility when compared to wild-type mice. However, only one strain of M. avium was used, and the studies were performed in vivo. In the present work, we expanded these experiments to include different strains of M. avium, with different virulences, and we performed the experiments with isolated macrophages so as to address the role of superoxide production in the interaction of macrophages with M. avium, in the absence of additional effects on other components of the immune response. Overall, our results indicate that the production of superoxide through the NADPH oxidase is not necessary either for cytokine or NRAMP1-mediated growth restriction of M. avium inside mouse bone-marrow-derived macrophages (BMM
).
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METHODS |
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All mycobacteria were grown in Middlebrook 7H9 Broth (Difco) with 0·04% Tween 80 (Sigma). Cultures were harvested during exponential phase, centrifuged, washed in saline with Tween 80, briefly sonicated and stored in aliquots at -70 °C until used.
Animals.
p47phox-deficient mice were bred at the IBMC (Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Cellular) facilities from breeding pairs kindly provided by Drs Steven Holland and Braham Segal, from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA (Jackson et al., 1995 ). These mice were kept in HEPA (high efficiency particulate air)-filter-bearing cages and fed sterilized food and water. Mice were initially genotyped for the Nramp1 allele and found to be heterozygous for the R (G169) and S (D169) alleles. Breeders were subsequently selected for homozygosity of either the R or the S allele and progeny were used in accordance to their Nramp1 genotype as indicated in the text below.
C57Bl/6 mice (Nramp1s) were purchased from the Gulbenkian Institute (Oeiras, Portugal) and 129Sv mice (Nramp1r) were bred in our facilities. These strains correspond to the parent strains used in the generation of the p47phox gene-disrupted mice. The wild-type mice were kept under standard hygiene conditions.
Genomic PCR analysis of the Nramp1 gene.
Genomic DNA samples were obtained from each mouse by treating a portion of the ear with proteinase K (Sigma). The amplification of the Nramp1 gene was performed using Taq DNA polymerase (Gibco) and primers specific for the Nramp1 gene, one oligonucleotide being common to both alleles and the other being specific for either R or S allele, as described elsewhere (Gomes et al., 1999 ). The amplification was done in a Gene Amp PCR System 9600 (Perkin-Elmer-Roche).
Infection of BMM.
Macrophages were derived from mouse bone marrow as follows. Each femur was flushed with 5 ml of Hanks Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS). The resulting cell suspension was centrifuged and the cells resuspended in Dulbeccos Modified Eagles Medium (DMEM, Gibco) containing 10% Foetal Bovine Serum (FBS, Gibco) and 10% L929 Cell Conditioned Medium (LCCM), as a source of Macrophage-Colony Stimulating Factor (M-CSF). The cells were distributed in 24-well plates and incubated at 37 °C in a 7% CO2 atmosphere. Three days after seeding, another 0·1 ml LCCM was added. On the 7th day, the medium was renewed.
On the 10th day of culture, when cells were completely differentiated into macrophages, they were infected with M. avium. About 106 c.f.u. M. avium were added to each well (approximately 10 bacteria per macrophage), in 0·2 ml DMEM. Cells were incubated for 4 h at 37 °C in a CO2 atmosphere and then washed with warm HBSS to remove non-internalized bacteria and reincubated in DMEM, with 10% FBS and 10% LCCM. In some of the wells, the macrophages were immediately lysed and the number of viable intracellular bacteria counted as described below (time zero). The other cells were incubated for 7 days to measure the intracellular growth of the bacteria.
The measurement of mycobacterial growth was done by counting c.f.u.s. Briefly, at different time points after infection, the cells were lysed by adding 0·1% saponin to each well. The resulting bacterial suspension was serially diluted 1:10 in water containing 0·04% Tween 80. The dilutions were plated on Middlebrook 7H10 agar (Difco) and the number of colonies counted 8 to 10 days later. For each condition tested, three culture wells were used. The results presented correspond to the mean and standard deviation of these three wells.
Macrophage treatments.
Recombinant murine IFN- (Gibco), 100 U per culture well and recombinant murine TNF-
(Genzyme), 50 U per culture well, were added daily to the cultures, starting immediately after infection and until day 4.
Ferric ammonium citrate or ferrous sulfate (both from Merck) were added to the culture medium immediately after infection, at final concentrations of 0·01 µM or 1 µM iron.
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RESULTS |
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Effect of iron on the intramacrophagic growth of M. avium
As said previously, some authors claim that NRAMP1 pumps iron into the phagosome and that contributes to M. avium killing through generation of hydroxyl radicals. We tested the effects of iron addition to macrophages infected with M. avium and whether those effects were dependent on the presence of a functional NADPH oxidase. As shown in Fig. 2, the addition of iron caused an increase in the intra-macrophagic growth of M. avium, rather than inhibition. As expected, the same stimulatory effect was seen in macrophages lacking either a functional phagocyte oxidase or a functional NRAMP1 protein. Similar results were also obtained when ferrous sulfate was used as the source of iron.
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DISCUSSION |
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Since we have already shown that M. avium is resistant to macrophage-generated nitric oxide (Gomes et al., 1999 ), the present data show that mouse macrophages must have oxygen and nitrogen reactive species-independent mechanisms that are activated by IFN-
and TNF-
and cause the bacteriostasis or killing of this opportunistic pathogen. The mechanisms involved in the resistance of pathogenic mycobacteria to macrophage-generated reactive oxygen species are not completely elucidated. There is no functional OxyR system in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Sherman et al., 1995
) although the expression of catalase-peroxidase correlates with resistance against hydrogen peroxide (Manca et al., 1999
). Also, the presence of cyclopropanated mycolic acids seems to be important for resistance against hydrogen peroxide, since the transformation of Mycobacterium smegmatis with a gene involved in the biosynthesis of these molecules renders the bacterium more resistant to hydrogen peroxide (Yuan et al., 1995
). However, M. avium is more resistant to hydrogen peroxide than M. tuberculosis (Gangadharam & Pratt, 1984
), suggesting that the former mycobacterial species may have additional scavenger mechanisms to deal with oxidative stress.
Unlike M. tuberculosis, however, M. avium proliferation in vivo in mice is under the control of the Nramp1 gene (Appelberg & Sarmento, 1990 ; Medina et al., 1996
). NRAMP1 is a transmembrane protein expressed in endosomal and phagosomal membranes of macrophages, that contributes to inhibition of growth of several intracellular pathogens, including Mycobacterium bovis, M. avium, Leishmania donovani and Salmonella typhimurium (Gruenheid & Gros, 2000
). Two alleles of the Nramp1 gene occur naturally in laboratory mouse strains. Only the wild-type or R allele encodes a functional protein, while the S allele is presumably not expressed or encodes a non-functional protein (Gruenheid & Gros, 2000
). NRAMP1 mediates pleiotropic effects, ranging from major histocompatibility complex expression to superoxide production or phagosome acidification (Gruenheid et al., 1997
; Denis et al., 1988
; Hackam et al., 1998
). It is not clear how these effects contribute to the growth restriction of intracellular pathogens. A large number of genes with high homology to Nramp1 have been recently characterized, both from mammals and from micro-organisms (Gruenheid & Gros, 2000
). These proteins seem to be implicated in divalent cation transport, namely Fe2+ and Mn2+ (Gruenheid & Gros, 2000
; Jabado et al., 2000
). We have previously reported data supporting the hypothesis that the mycobacteriostatic action of NRAMP1 is due to iron-depletion of the pathogen-containing phagosome (Gomes & Appelberg, 1998
). Other authors claim that NRAMP1 transports iron from the cytosol into the pathogen-containing phagosome and that this would contribute to bacterial killing by stimulating the production of hydroxyl radicals from less toxic reactive oxygen species, namely superoxide and hydrogen peroxide (Goswami et al., 2001
; Kuhn et al., 1999
; Zwilling et al., 1999
). If the bacteriostatic activity of NRAMP1 were to be due to hydroxyl formation, then it would be hampered in macrophages lacking NADPH oxidase, the enzyme responsible for the production of superoxide. The data presented here show that this is not the case. The Nramp1-mediated resistance was not affected by the mutation induced in the oxidase system as the addition of exogenous iron to macrophages expressing a functional NRAMP1 protein blocked antimicrobial activity instead of promoting it as the previous hypothesis would have predicted. In some experiments, the deficiency in the phagocyte oxidase was even able to increase the antimicrobial activity of macrophages expressing the functional NRAMP1 molecule although the mechanism involved was not investigated here.
In summary, our data show that restriction of growth of M. avium by macrophages is independent of the generation of reactive oxygen species through the respiratory burst NADPH oxidase. This is true for the antimycobacterial mechanisms induced by macrophage-activating cytokines such as IFN- and TNF-
as well as for the constitutive antimycobacterial mechanism mediated by the NRAMP1 protein.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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This work was supported by contract 13232/1998 from the PRAXIS XXI programme.
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Received 4 March 2002;
revised 10 May 2002;
accepted 14 May 2002.