Abstract
Legionella pneumophila is the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease, a serious and often fatal form of pneumonia. The susceptibility to L. pneumophila arises from the ability of this intracellular pathogen to multiply in human alveolar macrophages and monocytes. L. pneumophila also replicates in several professional and non-professional phagocytic human-derived cell lines. With the exception of the A/J mouse strain, most mice strains are restrictive, thus they do not support L. pneumophila replication. Mice lacking the NOD-like receptor Nlrc4 or caspase-1 are also susceptible to L. pneumophila. On the other hand, in the susceptible human hosts, L. pneumophila utilizes several strategies to ensure intracellular replication and protect itself against the host immune system. Most of these strategies converge to prevent the fusion of the L. pneumophila phagosome with the lysosome, inhibiting host cell apoptosis, activating survival pathways, and sequestering essential nutrients for replication and pathogenesis. In this review, we summarize survival mechanisms employed by L. pneumophila to maintain its replication in human cells. In addition, we highlight different human-derived cell lines that support the multiplication of this intracellular bacterium. Therefore, these in vitro models can be applicable and are reproducible when investigating L. pneumophila/phagocyte interactions at the molecular and cellular levels in the human host.
Highlights
Legionella pneumophila is the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease, a serious and often fatal form of pneumonia.The susceptibility to L. pneumophila arises from the ability of this intracellular pathogen to multiply in human alveolar macrophages and monocytes
L. pneumophila colonizes into biofilm; which are complex bacterial communities attached to a substratum by means of exopolysaccharides (EPS; Rogers et al, 1994)
The interaction of Legionella pneumophila with phagocytes bacteria evade fusion of the phagosome to lysosome, the mechanism maybe different in some aspects (Horwitz, 1983a,b; Horwitz and Maxfield,1984; Bozue and Johnson,1996).Attachments and binding of L. pneumophila to the complement receptor 1 (CR1), and complement receptor 3 (CR3) on human phagocytic cells is followed by entry into these cells
Summary
Legionella pneumophila is the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease, a serious and often fatal form of pneumonia.The susceptibility to L. pneumophila arises from the ability of this intracellular pathogen to multiply in human alveolar macrophages and monocytes. In the susceptible human hosts, L. pneumophila utilizes several strategies to ensure intracellular replication and protect itself against the host immune system. We highlight different human-derived cell lines that support the multiplication of this intracellular bacterium. These in vitro models can be applicable and are reproducible when investigating L. pneumophila/phagocyte interactions at the molecular and cellular levels in the human host. The intracellular fate of L. pneumophila in both human and protozoa is similar, where the www.frontiersin.org
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