Culkin SJ

McQuiston JH

Mege JL

Ormsbee RA

ABSTRACT
          
            Despite
            Coxiella burnetii
            being an obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen, our recent study demonstrated that B cells play a critical role in vaccine-induced immunity to
            C. burnetii
            infection by producing protective antibodies. However, the role of B cells in host defense against primary
            C. burnetii
            infection remains unclear. In this study, we investigated whether B cells play an important role in host defense against primary
            C. burnetii
            infection. The results showed that peritoneal B cells were able to phagocytose virulent
            C. burnetii
            bacteria and form
            Coxiella
            -containing vacuoles (CCVs) and that
            C. burnetii
            can infect and replicate in peritoneal B1a subset B cells
            in vitro
            , demonstrating a potential role for peritoneal B cells in host defense against
            C. burnetii
            infection
            in vivo
            . In addition, the results showing that B1a cells secreted a high level of interleukin-10 (IL-10) in response to
            C. burnetii
            infection
            in vitro
            suggest that B1a cells may play an important role in inhibiting the
            C. burnetii
            infection-induced inflammatory response. The observation that adoptive transfer of peritoneal B cells did not significantly affect the severity of
            C. burnetii
            infection-induced diseases in both severe combined immunity-deficient (SCID) and μMT mice indicates that peritoneal B cells alone may not be able to control
            C. burnetii
            infection. In contrast, our finding that
            C. burnetii
            infection induced more-severe splenomegaly and a higher bacterial burden in the spleens of B1a cell-deficient Bruton's tyrosine kinase x-linked immunity-deficient (BTK
            xid
            ) mice than in their wild-type counterparts further suggests that B1a cells play an important role in host defense against primary
            C. burnetii
            infection.
          </jats:p

Role of B Cells in Host Defense against Primary Coxiella burnetii Infection

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Crossref