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Haemophilus influenzae interacts with the human complement inhibitor factor H

Hallström, Teresia LU ; Zipfel, Peter F. ; Blom, Anna LU orcid ; Lauer, Nadine ; Forsgren, Arne LU and Riesbeck, Kristian LU orcid (2008) In Journal of Immunology 181(1). p.537-545
Abstract
Pathogenic microbes acquire human complement inhibitors to circumvent the innate immune system. In this study, we identify two novel host-pathogen interactions, factor H (FH) and factor H-like protein 1 (FHL-1), the inhibitors of the alternative pathway that binds to Hib. A collection of clinical Haemophilus influenzae isolates was tested and the majority of encapsulated and unencapsulated bound FH. The isolate Hib 541 with a particularly high FH-binding was selected for detailed analysis. An increased survival in normal human serum was observed with Hib 541 as compared with the low FH-binding Hib 568. Interestingly, two binding domains were identified within FH; one binding site common to both FH and FHL-1 was located in the N-terminal... (More)
Pathogenic microbes acquire human complement inhibitors to circumvent the innate immune system. In this study, we identify two novel host-pathogen interactions, factor H (FH) and factor H-like protein 1 (FHL-1), the inhibitors of the alternative pathway that binds to Hib. A collection of clinical Haemophilus influenzae isolates was tested and the majority of encapsulated and unencapsulated bound FH. The isolate Hib 541 with a particularly high FH-binding was selected for detailed analysis. An increased survival in normal human serum was observed with Hib 541 as compared with the low FH-binding Hib 568. Interestingly, two binding domains were identified within FH; one binding site common to both FH and FHL-1 was located in the N-terminal short consensus repeat domains 6-7, whereas the other, specific for FH, was located in the C-terminal short consensus repeat domains 18-20. Importantly, both FH and FHL-1, when bound to the surface of Hib 541, retained cofactor activity as determined by analysis of C3b degradation. Two H. influenzae outer membrane proteins of similar to 32 and 40 kDa were detected with radiolabeled FH in Far Western blot. Taken together, in addition to interactions with the classical, lectin, and terminal pathways, H. influenzae interferes with the alternative complement activation pathway by binding FH and FHL-1, and thereby reducing the complement-mediated bactericidal activity resulting in an increased survival. In contrast to incubation with active complement, H. influenzae had a reduced survival in FH-depleted human serum, thus demonstrating that FH mediates a protective role at the bacterial surface. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Immunology
volume
181
issue
1
pages
537 - 545
publisher
American Association of Immunologists
external identifiers
  • wos:000257404900060
  • scopus:47949122480
ISSN
1550-6606
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b9fbcd23-7351-400b-aee4-6c6a0d905491 (old id 1257005)
alternative location
http://www.jimmunol.org/cgi/content/abstract/181/1/537
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:21:43
date last changed
2022-05-15 04:45:19
@article{b9fbcd23-7351-400b-aee4-6c6a0d905491,
  abstract     = {{Pathogenic microbes acquire human complement inhibitors to circumvent the innate immune system. In this study, we identify two novel host-pathogen interactions, factor H (FH) and factor H-like protein 1 (FHL-1), the inhibitors of the alternative pathway that binds to Hib. A collection of clinical Haemophilus influenzae isolates was tested and the majority of encapsulated and unencapsulated bound FH. The isolate Hib 541 with a particularly high FH-binding was selected for detailed analysis. An increased survival in normal human serum was observed with Hib 541 as compared with the low FH-binding Hib 568. Interestingly, two binding domains were identified within FH; one binding site common to both FH and FHL-1 was located in the N-terminal short consensus repeat domains 6-7, whereas the other, specific for FH, was located in the C-terminal short consensus repeat domains 18-20. Importantly, both FH and FHL-1, when bound to the surface of Hib 541, retained cofactor activity as determined by analysis of C3b degradation. Two H. influenzae outer membrane proteins of similar to 32 and 40 kDa were detected with radiolabeled FH in Far Western blot. Taken together, in addition to interactions with the classical, lectin, and terminal pathways, H. influenzae interferes with the alternative complement activation pathway by binding FH and FHL-1, and thereby reducing the complement-mediated bactericidal activity resulting in an increased survival. In contrast to incubation with active complement, H. influenzae had a reduced survival in FH-depleted human serum, thus demonstrating that FH mediates a protective role at the bacterial surface.}},
  author       = {{Hallström, Teresia and Zipfel, Peter F. and Blom, Anna and Lauer, Nadine and Forsgren, Arne and Riesbeck, Kristian}},
  issn         = {{1550-6606}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{537--545}},
  publisher    = {{American Association of Immunologists}},
  series       = {{Journal of Immunology}},
  title        = {{Haemophilus influenzae interacts with the human complement inhibitor factor H}},
  url          = {{http://www.jimmunol.org/cgi/content/abstract/181/1/537}},
  volume       = {{181}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}