Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA.
Infect Immun. 2023 Mar 15;91(3):e0055622. doi: 10.1128/iai.00556-22. Epub 2023 Feb 28.
Platelets are known for essential activities in hemostasis and for their important contribution to protection against infectious pathogens. Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic pathogen widely known to cause nosocomial infections. Recently, hypervirulent strains of K. pneumoniae have been emerging, which can cause severe infections in immunocompetent individuals. Combined with the increase in antibiotic resistance, it is important to understand how K. pneumoniae affects components of the immune system. We studied the interactions of human platelets with several K. pneumoniae strains (the wild type encapsulated strain, and a nonencapsulated mutant). Thrombin-stimulated whole human and mouse blood significantly inhibited bacterial growth compared to unstimulated whole blood. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of K. pneumoniae on platelet activation. Both strains induced significant increase in activation of both unstimulated and thrombin-stimulated human platelets. Additionally, only the nonencapsulated mutant increased aggregation of platelets in response to ADP. K. pneumoniae killing assays were then performed with washed platelets in the presence or absence of thrombin. Surprisingly, washed platelets failed to exhibit any effects on the growth of K. pneumoniae. We further explored the impact of platelets on monocyte-mediated killing of K. pneumoniae. Importantly, we found that activated platelets significantly enhanced monocyte-mediated killing of K. pneumoniae. This effect was likely due to the formation of platelet-monocyte aggregates in blood upon thrombin stimulation. Overall, this study highlights the role of platelets in mediating a protective response against K. pneumoniae and reinforces the importance of platelets in modulating leukocyte behavior.
血小板在止血方面发挥着重要作用,并且对防止感染病原体也有着重要贡献。肺炎克雷伯菌是一种广泛存在的机会致病菌,会导致医院获得性感染。最近,出现了一些毒力更强的肺炎克雷伯菌菌株,这些菌株能够在免疫功能正常的个体中引起严重感染。再加上抗生素耐药性的增加,了解肺炎克雷伯菌如何影响免疫系统的各个组成部分就显得尤为重要。我们研究了人类血小板与几种肺炎克雷伯菌菌株(野生型包被菌株和非包被突变株)的相互作用。与未刺激的全血相比,凝血酶刺激的全人血和全鼠血显著抑制了细菌的生长。此外,我们还研究了肺炎克雷伯菌对血小板激活的影响。这两种菌株都显著增加了未刺激和凝血酶刺激的人血小板的激活。此外,只有非包被突变株能增加血小板对 ADP 的聚集反应。然后,在存在或不存在凝血酶的情况下,用洗涤后的血小板进行肺炎克雷伯菌杀伤试验。令人惊讶的是,洗涤后的血小板对肺炎克雷伯菌的生长没有任何影响。我们进一步探讨了血小板对单核细胞介导的肺炎克雷伯菌杀伤的影响。重要的是,我们发现激活的血小板显著增强了单核细胞介导的肺炎克雷伯菌杀伤作用。这种效应可能是由于在凝血酶刺激下血液中形成了血小板-单核细胞聚集物。总的来说,这项研究强调了血小板在介导针对肺炎克雷伯菌的保护反应中的作用,并强调了血小板在调节白细胞行为方面的重要性。