Changes in macrophage lysosomal enzymes expression in response to Bordetella pertussis infection

VALDEZ, HUGO; GORGOJO, JUAN; ALVAREZ HAYES, JIMENA; RODRIGUEZ, MARIA EUGENIA

Mendoza

Congreso; 73. XLVIII Reunión Annual Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2012

Macrophages have the ability to recognize bacterial products and initiate an immune response to clear the microbe. Our group recently showed that the encounter of Bordetella pertussis with human macrophages leads to the intracellular survival of a significant number of bacteria which are able to replicate inside to macrophage. In this study we focused on the expression of lysosomal enzymes during the establishment of intracellular infection of B. pertussis. Using B. pertussis-infected macrophage model we evaluated the time course of mRNA expression at 3, 24 and 48 h post-infection. The results showed that cathepsin genes, the most important lysosomal proteases (CTSA, B, C, D, G and S), were strongly induced at 3 h post infection, but down regulated 24 h later. Similar pattern was observed in the expression of proteinase 3, azurocidin 1 and acid phosphatase 6. A significant upregulation of these proteins mRNA expression was seen at early time points but after 48h these genes were silenced showing even lower values than the uninfected control. Recently a new concept is emerging about the possibility of intracellular pathogens to manipulate gene expression program in the host cell for their own benefit. The results obtained here suggest that during infection Bp is able to manipulate the intracellular environment to make it less aggressive and thus allow its survival and replication.