Costello, Anne and Herbert, Gillian and Fabunmi, Lydia and Schaffer, Kirsten and Kavanagh, Kevin and Caraher, Emma M. and Callaghan, Maire and McClean, Siobhan (2011) Virulence of an emerging respiratory pathogen, genus Pandoraea, in vivo and its interactions with lung epithelial cells. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 60 (3). pp. 289-299. ISSN 0022-2615

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Abstract

Pandoraea species have emerged as opportunistic pathogens among cystic fibrosis (CF) and non-CF patients. Pandoraea pulmonicola is the predominant Pandoraea species among Irish CF patients. The objective of this study was to investigate the pathogenicity and potential mechanisms of virulence of Irish P. pulmonicola isolates and strains from other Pandoraea species. Three patients from whom the P. pulmonicola isolates were isolated have since died. The in vivo virulence of these and other Pandoraea strains was examined by determining the ability to kill Galleria mellonella larvae. The P. pulmonicola strains generally were the most virulent of the species tested, with three showing a comparable or greater level of virulence in vivo relative to another CF pathogen, Burkholderia cenocepacia, whilst strains from two other species, Pandoraea apista and Pandoraea pnomenusa, were considerably less virulent. For all Pandoraea species, whole cells were required for larval killing, as cell-free supernatants had little effect on larval survival. Overall, invasive Pandoraea strains showed comparable invasion of two independent lung epithelial cell lines, irrespective of whether they had a CF phenotype. Pandoraea strains were also capable of translocation across polarized lung epithelial cell monolayers. Although protease secretion was a common characteristic across the genus, it is unlikely to be involved in pathogenesis. In conclusion, whilst multiple mechanisms of pathogenicity may exist across the genus Pandoraea, it appears that lung cell invasion and translocation contribute to the virulence of P. pulmonicola strains.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The definitive version of this article is available at DOI 10.1099/jmm.0.022657-0 . This study was supported by PRTLI Cycle 4 (supported by the European Union Regional Development Plan, the Irish Government National Development Plan 2007–2013 and administered by the Higher Education Authority in Ireland) and by the Technology Sector Research Post-graduate R&D Skills Programme (PRDSP), Strand I. The authors would also like to thank Dr Dieter Gruenert for kindly providing us with the 16HBE14o2 and CFBE41o2 cells. We are grateful to James Reilly, ITT, Dublin, Ireland, for advice on statistical analysis of the data. In addition, we would like to thank Professor Philip Murphy and Jonathan Collins, National CF Reference Laboratory at Adelaide Meath Incorporating the National Children’s Hospital, Tallaght, Ireland, for providing the Irish P. pulmonicola isolates
Keywords:	respiratory pathogens; genus Pandoraea; lung epithelial cells; cystic fibrosis; P. pulmonicola; Ireland;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Biology
Item ID:	4084
Depositing User:	Dr. Kevin Kavanagh
Date Deposited:	16 Jan 2013 16:25
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Medical Microbiology
Publisher:	Society for General Microbiology
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://jmm.sgmjournals.org/
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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