Week 9 Flashcards
Pathogens have choices where to live
Viruses are obligate intracellular pathogens
Bacteria, some fungi and parasites have a ‘choice’ or a preferred environment either inside or outside the cell
Intracellular bacteria
Can be found free in the cytoplasms or restricted to vacuoles/vesicles
Which cells do pathogens infect
Bacteria can infect immune and not immune cells
Eg epithelial cells
Eg macrophages (professional phagocytes) therefore they can hide in the cells meant to kill them
Survival inside phagocytes
Advantage:
-intracellular environment provides a continuous supply of nutrients to the pathogen
-pathogen shielded from extracellular immune system eg complement, antibodies, drugs (eg some antibodies)
Disadvantage:
-need to overcome innate anti microbial killing mechanisms of the phagocyte
What can be done about a pathogen that can survive inside a phagocyte
Intracellular
Cytoplasmic: NK cells, cytotoxic cells protective immunity
Vesicular: T cell and NK cell dependent macrophage activation
Phagosome processing pathway for MHC class II
Macrophage
Pathogen ingested by phagocytosis
Early phagosome
Late phagosome
Lysosome (contains hydrolytic enzymes, cationic peptides, proteases) fuses with phagosome to form phagolysosome
Microbe digested
MHC class II loading compartment
Degraded non-peptide material released,
Mtb peptide/MHC presented on surface
Phagosomal living intracellular pathogens
Phagosomal pathogens block processing pathway at an early stage on phagosome development
Eg mycobacterium tuberculosis Mtb;
Replicates in the early phagosome
So avoids contact with lysosome contents
Involves surface Mtb glycolipid lipoarabinomannan LAM
Cytosolic living intracellular pathogens
Eg listeria monocytogenes
Escapes into cytosol from early phagosome
Replicates in cytosol
So avoids contact with lysosome contents
Intracellular microbial pathogens are killed by a combination of innate processes
Acidification: pH=~3.5-4.0, bacteriostatic or bactericidal
Toxic oxygen derived products: superoxide O2-, hydrogen peroxide H2O2, singlet oxygen 1O2. Hydroxyl radical .OH, hypohalite OCl-
Toxic nitrogen oxides: nitric oxide NO
Antimicrobial peptides: defensins and cationic proteins
Enzymes: lysozyme- dissolves cell walls of some gram-positive bacteria. Acid hydrolases- further digest bacteria
Competitors: lactoferrin (bind Fe) and vitamin B12-binding protein
CD4 Th1 immunity
Activated Th1 cell:
IFN-gamma and CD40 ligand: activates macrophage to destroy engulfed bacteria
Fas ligand or LT-alpha: kills chronically infected cells, releasing bacteria to be destroyed by fresh macrophages
IL-2: induces T cell proliferation, increasing numbers of effector cells
IL-3 and GM-CSF: induces macrophage differentiation in the bone marrow
TNF-alpha and LT-beta: activates endothelium to induce macrophage binding and exit from blood vessel at site of infection
CCL2: causes macrophage to accumulate at site of infection
Priming Th1 cells
CD4 Th1 cells are primed by dendritic cells (antigen presenting cells) in LN/spleen through presenting peptides through MHC class II
Important for vesicle dwelling pathogens
Primed Th1 cells recognise infected cells through peptide presentation on MHC class II
Start of response: antigen receptor binding and Co stimulation of T cell by dendritic cell, proliferation and differentiation of T cell to acquire effector function. Lymph nodes or spleen
End function response: LN or spleen, liver, lungs, skin. Th1 cell recognises complex of bacterial peptides with MHC class II and activates the macrophage
Primed Th1 cells activate macrophages
Th1 driven macrophage activation enhances macrophage killing
No Th1 cells= no bacterial clearance
Not having T cells is bad
Activation of macrophages makes them more able to recognise pathogen and more able to kill pathogen
Th1 activated macrophages
Increase expression of:
-MHC class I and class II
-CD40
-CD80/CD86 amplification
Fas expression (apoptosis)
increase TNF and TNFR promotes autocrine nitric oxide production and apoptosis
Lysosome numbers
Reactive O2 intermediates (antimicrobial)
Factors that promote phagolysosome maturation (acidification and fusion)
CD8 cytotoxic T cell killing through MHC class I
Important for killing of cytosolic resident bacteria
Antigen in the infected cell is presented through MHC class I to CD8 T cells
CD8 T cells kill infected cells that by recognising foreign peptides through MHCI
Cytotoxic T cell recognises a specific peptide from the bacterium (eg listeria) presented through MHC class I and the T cell provokes cell death
Neighbouring uninflected cells not killed
Independent of where the infecting bacterium resides within the cell it can still be identified and killed
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mtb- an intracellular pathogen lives in vacuoles
Acid fast (gram +ve) bacilli
Slow growing: 12-24 hours replication
Complex lipid envelope that affects longevity, drug permeability, host resistance
Mtb host avoidance
Inhibits 3 key innate killing mechanisms used by phagocytes:
-reactive oxygen radical generation
-reactive nitrogen radical generation
-phagosome fusion with lysosomes
Mtb expresses:
Superoxide dismutase SOD- an enzyme that catalyses the breakdown of superoxide O2- to hydrogen peroxide
Catalase: an enzyme that catalyses the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide to water
Mtb actively block phagosome-lysosome fusion allowing them to survive and replicate within macrophages. Associated with the actions of Mtb cell wall glycolipid (lipoarabinomannan). M.tuberculosis have an unusually complex cell wall covered by a thick waxy coat
Tuberculosis disease clinical symptoms
Breathlessness
Chest pains
Loss of appetite
Coughing up blood
Tiredness
Persistent cough
Loss of weight
Night sweats
The persistence of mycobacteria in the host
Usually immunity develops- bacteria restricted to granulomas
T cells surround epithelioid cell, multi-nucleated giant cells, with mycobacteria in
Activation macrophages
Th1 cells enhance macrophage function through their activation
After activation phago-lysosome fusion is more efficient
Intracellular Mtb then killed
We are not very good at killing Tb:
-3-4 antibiotic treatments required 6-12 months, multidrug resistance increasing
Granulomas help ‘quarantine’ infection
Granulomas
Sometimes they collapse and become caseous
Centre of Granuloma becomes caseous- mass of dead macrophages (semi solid pus)
Anaerobic, low pH, cytokines (IFN gamma, LT and TNF a), macrophage, mycobacteria
Sometimes granulomas can leak and this enables bacteria to spread
Granulomas grows until erodes into: air pocket, blood vessel ,another Granuloma
If bacteria gets in the lungs they can be transmitted to others through sputum
-coughing: spread infection to other areas of lung, transmits infection to new hosts via infected sputum
Preventing TB
Bacillus calmette-Guerin vaccine BCG
Vaccine is 70-80% effective against most severe forms of TB eg TB meningitis
Less good at preventing respiratory disease
The vaccine is developed from mycobacterium bovis which is commonly found in cows
Live vaccine so shouldn’t be given to patients with immunodeficiency or who are on immunosuppression
Many factors influence susceptibility to TB infection (and other intracellular bacteria)
HIV
Malnutrition
Close living
Stress
Diabetes
Alcohol/drug abuse
Immunosuppresion (steroids anti-TNF for RA)
Genetic predisposition
Susceptible patients:
-CD4+ T cel defects (SCID)
-Th1 cytokine or receptor defects IFN gamma/ IL12/23 defects
Interferon -gamma is one of the critical protective factors, patients with partial defects in IFN gamma production or in IFNgamma R fucntion are highly susceptible to poorly pathogenic mycobacterial infections
TNFa is also critical as treatment of latent TB infected patients with anti-TFNa therapy for rheumatoid arthritis can develop post primary tuberculosis due to disease reactivation
BCG becomes disseminated and causes disease when live vaccine not controlled
A typical course of acute infection- viral titres
Rapid viral replication once infection established
Viraemia controlled within a day
Rapid resolution of viraemia once neutralising antibody kicks in
The prodromal response to infection
Most common symptoms of viral infection are due to the general effects of innate immune responses
The common cold
Rhinoviruses (~100):
-majority >50% of common colds
-ssRNA virus of the picornaviridae family
Adenoviruses (~60):
-second most common source of respiratory infections
-dsDNA virus of the adenoviridae family
Clinically almost indistinguishable- acute viral infections stimulate the host response in a similar way with similar results
Viral recognition
Innate immune responses target common motifs used by many viruses
Pathogen associated molecular patterns and pattern recognition receptors (PAMPs/PRRs)
Remember toll like receptors but also RIG-I-like receptors and nod-like receptors
Recognise viruses surface molecules or RNA/DNA
Interferon: interfere with viral infection
Large family of cytokines
Type I-interferon a and b- key antiviral cytokines:
-IFN-a produced by plasmacytoid dendritic cells and monocytes
-IFN-b produced by many cell types
-IFN-a can be used to treat hepatitis B and C infections while IFN-b can be used to treat multiple sclerosis
Type II-interferon gamma:
-activated by IL-12
-important for Th1 immunity
Type III:
-less well understood but role in anti-fungal/viral immunity
Interferon stimulated gene: ISG
ISG is a gene whose expression is stimulated by interferons
Viruses trigger the type I interferon system-> transcription of 100s of ISGs
The products of these ISGs have numerous antiviral effector functions interfering with all steps in a virus life cycle- entry, uncoating, transcription, translation, assembly, egress
MX1, PKR, OAS1- ‘classical’ ISGs
Potent antiviral activity
More recently discovered ISGs find a gradient of antiviral activity- dont always need the full arsenal to complete a job