Marjolein Meijerink

Epithelial crosstalk at the microbiota–mucosal interface

This article provides an overview of how intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) recognize commensals and how they maintain host-bacterial symbiosis. Endocrine, goblet cells, and enterocytes of the intestinal epithelium express a range of pattern recognition receptors (PRR) to sense the presence of microbes. The best characterized are the Toll-like receptors (TLR) and nucleotide oligomerization domain-like receptors (NLR), which play a key role in pathogen recognition and the induction of innate effectors and inflammation. Several adaptations of PRR signaling have evolved in the gut to avoid uncontrolled and potentially destructive inflammatory responses toward the resident microbiota. PRR signaling in IEC serve to maintain the barrier functions of the epithelium, including the production of secretory IgA (sIgA). Additionally, IECs play a cardinal role in setting the immunosuppressive tone of the mucosa to inhibit overreaction against innocuous luminal antigens. This includes regulation of dendritic cells (DC), macrophage and lymphocyte functions by epithelial secreted cytokines. These immune mechanisms depend heavily on IEC recognition of microbes and are consistent with several studies in knockout mice that demonstrate TLR signaling in the epithelium has a profoundly beneficial role in maintaining homeostasis.

Identification of genetic loci in Lactobacillus plantarum that modulate the immune response of dendritic cells using comparative genome hybridization.

Background Probiotics can be used to stimulate or regulate epithelial and immune cells of the intestinal mucosa and generate beneficial mucosal immunomodulatory effects. Beneficial effects of specific strains of probiotics have been established in the treatment and prevention of various intestinal disorders, including allergic diseases and diarrhea. However, the precise molecular mechanisms and the strain-dependent factors involved are poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we aimed to identify gene loci in the model probiotic organism Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 that modulate the immune response of host dendritic cells. The amounts of IL-10 and IL-12 secreted by dendritic cells (DCs) after stimulation with 42 individual L. plantarum strains were measured and correlated with the strain-specific genomic composition using comparative genome hybridisation and the Random Forest algorithm. This in silico “gene-trait matching” approach led to the identification of eight candidate genes in the L. plantarum genome that might modulate the DC cytokine response to L. plantarum. Six of these genes were involved in bacteriocin production or secretion, one encoded a bile salt hydrolase and one encoded a transcription regulator of which the exact function is unknown. Subsequently, gene deletions mutants were constructed in L. plantarum WCFS1 and compared to the wild-type strain in DC stimulation assays. All three bacteriocin mutants as well as the transcription regulator (lp_2991) had the predicted effect on cytokine production confirming their immunomodulatory effect on the DC response to L. plantarum. Transcriptome analysis and qPCR data showed that transcript level of gtcA3, which is predicted to be involved in glycosylation of cell wall teichoic acids, was substantially increased in the lp_2991 deletion mutant (44 and 29 fold respectively). Conclusion Comparative genome hybridization led to the identification of gene loci in L. plantarum WCFS1 that modulate the immune response of DCs.

Identification of Lactobacillus plantarum genes modulating the cytokine response of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells

BackgroundModulation of the immune system is one of the most plausible mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of probiotic bacteria on human health. Presently, the specific probiotic cell products responsible for immunomodulation are largely unknown. In this study, the genetic and phenotypic diversity of strains of the Lactobacillus plantarum species were investigated to identify genes of L. plantarum with the potential to influence the amounts of cytokines interleukin 10 (IL-10) and IL-12 and the ratio of IL-10/IL-12 produced by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).ResultsA total of 42 Lactobacillus plantarum strains isolated from diverse environmental and human sources were evaluated for their capacity to stimulate cytokine production in PBMCs. The L. plantarum strains induced the secretion of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 over an average 14-fold range and secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-12 over an average 16-fold range. Comparisons of the strain-specific cytokine responses of PBMCs to comparative genome hybridization profiles obtained with L. plantarum WCFS1 DNA microarrays (also termed gene-trait matching) resulted in the identification of 6 candidate genetic loci with immunomodulatory capacities. These loci included genes encoding an N-acetyl-glucosamine/galactosamine phosphotransferase system, the LamBDCA quorum sensing system, and components of the plantaricin (bacteriocin) biosynthesis and transport pathway. Deletion of these genes in L. plantarum WCFS1 resulted in growth phase-dependent changes in the PBMC IL-10 and IL-12 cytokine profiles compared with wild-type cells.ConclusionsThe altered PBMC cytokine profiles obtained with the L. plantarum WCFS1 mutants were in good agreement with the predictions made by gene-trait matching for the 42 L. plantarum strains. This study therefore resulted in the identification of genes present in certain strains of L. plantarum which might be responsible for the stimulation of anti- or pro-inflammatory immune responses in the gut.

REG3γ-deficient mice have altered mucus distribution and increased mucosal inflammatory responses to the microbiota and enteric pathogens in the ileum

REG3γ is considered to have a protective role against infection with Gram-positive bacteria due to its bactericidal activity, but evidence from in vivo studies is lacking. We generated a REG3γ−/− mouse, and investigated the effect of lack of REG3γ on intestinal mucus distribution, spatial compartmentalization of bacteria, and expression of innate immunity genes. Infection studies were also performed with Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens to investigate the antimicrobial role of REG3γ. REG3γ−/− mice display altered mucus distribution, increased bacterial contact with the epithelium, and elevated inflammatory markers in the ileum without histological evidence of pathology. Infection response pathway genes were differentially expressed in both Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enteritidis infected REG3γ−/− and wild-type (wt) mice. Higher amounts of myeloperoxidase and interleukin-22 transcripts were present in the ileal mucosa of REG3γ−/− than wt mice, but translocation to the organs was unaffected. We concluded that REG3γ has a protective role against mucosal infection with pathogenic Listeria and Salmonella in vivo. REG3γ is equally distributed throughout the mucus and its absence results in increased epithelial contact with the microbiota resulting in low-grade inflammation. REG3γ can bind to Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and influence mucus distribution in the ileum, properties which may contribute to mucosal protection.

L. plantarum, L. salivarius, and L. lactis Attenuate Th2 Responses and Increase Treg Frequencies in Healthy Mice in a Strain Dependent Manner

Many studies on probiotics are aimed at restoring immune homeostasis in patients to prevent disease recurrence or reduce immune-mediated pathology. Of equal interest is the use of probiotics in sub-clinical situations, which are characterized by reduced immune function or low-grade inflammation, with an increased risk of infection or disease as a consequence. Most mechanistic studies focus on the use of probiotics in experimental disease models, which may not be informative for these sub-clinical conditions. To gain better understanding of the effects in the healthy situation, we investigated the immunomodulatory effects of two Lactobacillus probiotic strains, i.e. L. plantarum WCFS1 and L. salivarius UCC118, and a non-probiotic lactococcus strain, i.e. L. lactis MG1363, in healthy mice. We studied the effect of these bacteria on the systemic adaptive immune system after 5 days of administration. Only L. plantarum induced an increase in regulatory CD103+ DC and regulatory T cell frequencies in the spleen. However, all three bacterial strains, including L. lactis, reduced specific splenic T helper cell cytokine responses after ex vivo restimulation. The effect on IFN-γ, IL5, IL10, and IL17 production by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells was dependent on the strain administered. A shared observation was that all three bacterial strains reduced T helper 2 cell frequencies. We demonstrate that systemic immunomodulation is not only observed after treatment with probiotic organisms, but also after treatment with non-probiotic bacteria. Our data demonstrate that in healthy mice, lactobacilli can balance T cell immunity in favor of a more regulatory status, via both regulatory T cell dependent and independent mechanisms in a strain dependent manner.

Immunomodulatory effects of streptococcus suis capsule type on human dendritic cell responses, phagocytosis and intracellular survival.

Streptococcus suis is a major porcine pathogen of significant commercial importance worldwide and an emerging zoonotic pathogen of humans. Given the important sentinel role of mucosal dendritic cells and their importance in induction of T cell responses we investigated the effect of different S. suis serotype strains and an isogenic capsule mutant of serotype 2 on the maturation, activation and expression of IL-10, IL-12p70 and TNF-α in human monocyte-derived dendritic cells. Additionally, we compared phagocytosis levels and bacterial survival after internalization. The capsule of serotype 2, the most common serotype associated with infection in humans and pigs, was highly anti-phagocytic and modulated the IL-10/IL-12 and IL-10/TNF-α cytokine production in favor of a more anti-inflammatory profile compared to other serotypes. This may have consequences for the induction of effective immunity to S. suis serotype 2 in humans. A shielding effect of the capsule on innate Toll-like receptor signaling was also demonstrated. Furthermore, we showed that 24 h after phagocytosis, significant numbers of viable intracellular S. suis were still present intracellularly. This may contribute to the dissemination of S. suis in the body.

Lactobacillus plantarum possesses the capability for wall teichoic acid backbone alditol switching

BackgroundSpecific strains of Lactobacillus plantarum are marketed as health-promoting probiotics. The role and interplay of cell-wall compounds like wall- and lipo-teichoic acids (WTA and LTA) in bacterial physiology and probiotic-host interactions remain obscure. L. plantarum WCFS1 harbors the genetic potential to switch WTA backbone alditol, providing an opportunity to study the impact of WTA backbone modifications in an isogenic background.ResultsThrough genome mining and mutagenesis we constructed derivatives that synthesize alternative WTA variants. The mutants were shown to completely lack WTA, or produce WTA and LTA that lack D-Ala substitution, or ribitol-backbone WTA instead of the wild-type glycerol-containing backbone. DNA micro-array experiments established that the tarIJKL gene cluster is required for the biosynthesis of this alternative WTA backbone, and suggest ribose and arabinose are precursors thereof. Increased tarIJKL expression was not observed in any of our previously performed DNA microarray experiments, nor in qRT-PCR analyses of L. plantarum grown on various carbon sources, leaving the natural conditions leading to WTA backbone alditol switching, if any, to be identified. Human embryonic kidney NF-κB reporter cells expressing Toll like receptor (TLR)-2/6 were exposed to purified WTAs and/or the TA mutants, indicating that WTA is not directly involved in TLR-2/6 signaling, but attenuates this signaling in a backbone independent manner, likely by affecting the release and exposure of immunomodulatory compounds such as LTA. Moreover, human dendritic cells did not secrete any cytokines when purified WTAs were applied, whereas they secreted drastically decreased levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-12p70 and TNF-α after stimulation with the WTA mutants as compared to the wild-type.ConclusionsThe study presented here correlates structural differences in WTA to their functional characteristics, thereby providing important information aiding to improve our understanding of molecular host-microbe interactions and probiotic functionality.

Pili-like proteins of Akkermansia muciniphila modulate host immune responses and gut barrier function

Gut barrier function is key in maintaining a balanced response between the host and its microbiome. The microbiota can modulate changes in gut barrier as well as metabolic and inflammatory responses. This highly complex system involves numerous microbiota-derived factors. The gut symbiont Akkermansia muciniphila is positively correlated with a lean phenotype, reduced body weight gain, amelioration of metabolic responses and restoration of gut barrier function by modulation of mucus layer thickness. However, the molecular mechanisms behind its metabolic and immunological regulatory properties are unexplored. Herein, we identify a highly abundant outer membrane pili-like protein of A. muciniphila MucT that is directly involved in immune regulation and enhancement of trans-epithelial resistance. The purified Amuc_1100 protein and enrichments containing all its associated proteins induced production of specific cytokines through activation of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4. This mainly leads to high levels of IL-10 similar to those induced by the other beneficial immune suppressive microorganisms such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii A2-165 and Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1. Together these results indicate that outer membrane protein composition and particularly the newly identified highly abundant pili-like protein Amuc_1100 of A. muciniphila are involved in host immunological homeostasis at the gut mucosa, and improvement of gut barrier function.

Impact of Lactobacillus plantarum sortase on target protein sorting, gastrointestinal persistence, and host immune response modulation.

Sortases are transpeptidases that couple surface proteins to the peptidoglycan of Gram-positive bacteria, and several sortase-dependent proteins (SDPs) have been demonstrated to be crucial for the interactions of pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacteria with their hosts. Here, we studied the role of sortase A (SrtA) in Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1, a model Lactobacillus for probiotic organisms. An isogenic srtA deletion derivative was constructed which did not show residual SrtA activity. DNA microarray-based transcriptome analysis revealed that the srtA deletion had only minor impact on the full-genome transcriptome of L. plantarum, while the expression of SDP-encoding genes remained completely unaffected. Mass spectrometry analysis of the bacterial cell surface proteome, which was assessed by trypsinization of intact bacterial cells and by LiCl protein extraction, revealed that SrtA is required for the appropriate subcellular location of specific SDPs and for their covalent coupling to the cell envelope, respectively. We further found that SrtA deficiency did not affect the persistence and/or survival of L. plantarum in the gastrointestinal tract of mice. In addition, an in vitro immature dendritic cell (iDC) assay revealed that the removal of surface proteins by LiCl strongly affected the proinflammatory signaling properties of the SrtA-deficient strain but not of the wild type, which suggests a role of SDPs in host immune response modulation.

Immunomodulatory properties of Streptococcus and Veillonella isolates from the human small intestine microbiota.

The human small intestine is a key site for interactions between the intestinal microbiota and the mucosal immune system. Here we investigated the immunomodulatory properties of representative species of commonly dominant small-intestinal microbial communities, including six streptococcal strains (four Streptococcus salivarius, one S. equinus, one S. parasanguinis) one Veillonella parvula strain, one Enterococcus gallinarum strain, and Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 as a bench mark strain on human monocyte-derived dendritic cells. The different streptococci induced varying levels of the cytokines IL-8, TNF-α, and IL-12p70, while the V. parvula strain showed a strong capacity to induce IL-6. E. gallinarum strain was a potent inducer of cytokines and TLR2/6 signalling. As Streptococcus and Veillonella can potentially interact metabolically and frequently co-occur in ecosystems, immunomodulation by pair-wise combinations of strains were also tested for their combined immunomodulatory properties. Strain combinations induced cytokine responses in dendritic cells that differed from what might be expected on the basis of the results obtained with the individual strains. A combination of (some) streptococci with Veillonella appeared to negate IL-12p70 production, while augmenting IL-8, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α responses. This suggests that immunomodulation data obtained in vitro with individual strains are unlikely to adequately represent immune responses to mixtures of gut microbiota communities in vivo. Nevertheless, analysing the immune responses of strains representing the dominant species in the intestine may help to identify immunomodulatory mechanisms that influence immune homeostasis.