The virulence of Legionella pneumophila is positively correlated with its ability to stimulate NF-κB activation.

Abstract

Our work is to study the correlation between the virulence of different Legionella pneumophila in mouse model and its ability to activate NF-κB signaling pathway in vitro. We measured the abilities of different strains of L. pneumophila to induce the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway in vitro. By using A/J mice, we also detected the virulence of different strains in vivo. We demonstrated that different strains of L. pneumophila induce different levels of activation to NF-κB signaling pathway in vitro. We also found that L. pneumophila strain induced higher NF-κB activation in vitro showed more severe weight losses, higher mortality, more severe lung inflammation and higher levels of serum cytokines production in mice.