Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology
Open Access

PMNs as Trojan horse vehicles for Brucella abortus persistence in murine bone marrow

8^th European Immunology Conference

June 29-July 01, 2017 Madrid, Spain

Maria Cristina Gutierrez-Jimenez, Ricardo Mora-Cartin, Carlos Chacon-Diaz, Esteban Chaves-Olarte, Edgardo Moreno and Elias Barquero-Calvo

University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Cell Immunol

Abstract :

Brucella abortus is a facultative intracellular pathogen that causes chronic infections. Neutrophils (PMNs) are the first cells that encounter Brucella after invasion, however, Brucella resist their killing action and induce premature cell death of these leukocytes. It has been described that B. abortus persist in bone marrow at chronic stages of infection. Nevertheless, the role of PMNs in bone marrow persistence has not been studied. Here we show that B. abortus organisms are able to persist in murine bone marrow even at the â�?�?declining stages of chronic infectionâ�?. B. abortus were observed inside a PMN/monocyte cell type at very low rates. Additionally, we demonstrate that murine bone marrow PMNs phagocyte antibody-opsonized B. abortus and die quickly after infection. These dying infected PMNs show increased adhesion and are readily taken up by RAW 264.7 macrophages. When ex vivo macrophage infections were performed, B. abortus were more infective and replicated at higher rates when macrophages were infected through PMNs than when infected with Brucella only. In general, proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines showed increased values in macrophages infected through PMNs; but only after 24 hours of infection, when Brucella has already reached their replication niche inside the cell. Our results support the notion that infected bone marrow PMN might behave as vectors for Brucella persistence in bone marrow in a non-logistic way.

Biography :

María Cristina Gutiérrez-Jiménez is a Master’s student of the University of Costa Rica. She is developing a research project on different Immunology aspects, regarding the infectious disease called brucellosis. Her work's main objective is to study the role of polymorphonuclear neutrophils as “Trojan Horse” vehicles during brucellosis, using a bone marrow murine model and the chronicity and persistence of the disease. She has acquired expertise in ELISA, flow cytometry, bacterial infections, cell culture, cell differentiation, cell infection through cells and fluorescence microscopy. She has co-authored a publication regarding the role of neutrophils during brucellosis.

Email: christiarte@gmail.com