A Highly Conserved Toxo1 Haplotype Directs Resistance to Toxoplasmosis and Its Associated Caspase-1 Dependent Killing of Parasite and Host Macrophage

PLoS Pathogens

Cordelia Bisanz¹  Olivier Papapietro²  Céline Massera²  Pierre Cavailles²  Corinne Loeuillet²  Marie France Cesbron-Delauw²  Bastien Touquet²  Delphine Jublot³  Dominique Lagrange³  Delphine Aldebert⁴  Sara Cristinelli⁴  Gilbert J. Fournié⁴  Pierre Flori⁴  Olivier Bastien⁵  Ludovic Pilloux⁵ 

[1] GIMAP, EA 3064, Saint-Etienne, France;UMR 5163, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Grenoble, France;UMR Inserm, U1043, Toulouse, France;Université Grenoble 1, Grenoble, France;Université de Toulouse, UPS, Centre de Physiopathologie de Toulouse Purpan (CPTP), Toulouse, France

关键词: Macrophages;    Parasitic diseases;    Toxoplasma gondii;    Cell death;    Toxoplasmosis;    Genetic loci;    Vacuoles;    Apoptosis;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1004005

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Natural immunity or resistance to pathogens most often relies on the genetic make-up of the host. In a LEW rat model of refractoriness to toxoplasmosis, we previously identified on chromosome 10 the Toxo1 locus that directs toxoplasmosis outcome and controls parasite spreading by a macrophage-dependent mechanism. Now, we narrowed down Toxo1 to a 891 kb interval containing 29 genes syntenic to human 17p13 region. Strikingly, Toxo1 is included in a haplotype block strictly conserved among all refractory rat strains. The sequencing of Toxo1 in nine rat strains (5 refractory and 4 susceptible) revealed resistant-restricted conserved polymorphisms displaying a distribution gradient that peaks at the bottom border of Toxo1, and highlighting the NOD-like receptor, Nlrp1a, as a major candidate. The Nlrp1 inflammasome is known to trigger, upon pathogen intracellular sensing, pyroptosis programmed-cell death involving caspase-1 activation and cleavage of IL-1β. Functional studies demonstrated that the Toxo1-dependent refractoriness in vivo correlated with both the ability of macrophages to restrict T. gondii growth and a T. gondii-induced death of intracellular parasites and its host macrophages. The parasite-induced cell death of infected macrophages bearing the LEW-Toxo1 alleles was found to exhibit pyroptosis-like features with ROS production, the activation of caspase-1 and IL1-β secretion. The pharmacological inactivation of caspase-1 using YVAD and Z-VAD inhibitors prevented the death of both intravacuolar parasites and host non-permissive macrophages but failed to restore parasite proliferation. These findings demonstrated that the Toxo1-dependent response of rat macrophages to T. gondii infection may trigger two pathways leading to the control of parasite proliferation and the death of parasites and host macrophages. The NOD-like receptor NLRP1a/Caspase-1 pathway is the best candidate to mediate the parasite-induced cell death. These data represent new insights towards the identification of a major pathway of innate resistance to toxoplasmosis and the prediction of individual resistance.

【 授权许可】

CC BY