Interaction of Mycobacterium leprae with the HaCaT human keratinocyte cell line: new frontiers in the cellular immunology of leprosy. Issue 7 (4th May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lyrio, Eloah C.D.; Campos‐Souza, Ivy C.; Corrêa, Luiz C.D.; Lechuga, Guilherme C.; Verícimo, Maurício; Castro, Helena C.; Bourguignon, Saulo C.; Côrte‐Real, Suzana; Ratcliffe, Norman; Declercq, Wim; Santos, Dilvani O.
• Is Part Of: Experimental dermatology. Volume 24:Issue 7(2015:Jul.)
• Page Start: 536
• Page End: 542
• Publication Date: 2015-05-04
• Subjects: Dermatology -- Periodicals; 616.5
• DOI: 10.1111/exd.12714
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0906-6705

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="exd12714-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Leprosy is a chronic granulomatous disease caused by <italic>Mycobacterium leprae</italic> affecting the skin and peripheral nerves. Despite <italic>M. leprae</italic> invasion of the skin and keratinocytes importance in innate immunity, the interaction of these cells <italic>in vitro</italic> during <italic>M. leprae</italic> infection is poorly understood. Conventional and fluorescence optical microscopy, transmission electronic microscopy, flow cytometry and ELISA were used to study the <italic>in vitro</italic> interaction of <italic>M. leprae</italic> with the HaCaT human keratinocyte cell line. Keratinocytes uptake of <italic>M. leprae</italic> is described, and modulation of the surface expression of CD80 and CD209, cathelicidin expression and TNF‐<italic>α</italic> and IL‐1<italic>β</italic> production of human keratinocytes are compared with dendritic cells and macrophages during <italic>M. leprae</italic> interaction. This study demonstrated that <italic>M. leprae</italic> interaction with human keratinocytes enhanced expression of cathelicidin and greatly increased TNF‐<italic>α</italic> production. The highest spontaneous expression of cathelicidin was by dendritic cells which are less susceptible to <italic>M. leprae</italic> infection. In contrast, keratinocytes displayed low spontaneous cathelicidin expression and were more susceptible to <italic>M. leprae</italic> infection than dendritic cells. The results show, for the first time, an active role for keratinocytes during infection by irradiated whole cells of <italic>M. leprae</italic> and the effect of vitamin D on this process. They also suggest that therapies which target cathelicidin modulation may provide novel approaches for treatment of leprosy.</p> </abstract>