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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbes and Innate Immunity
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1443719
This article is part of the Research Topic Respiratory Pathogen Infection and Host Innate Immune Response View all articles

Phosphatidylserine liposomes induce a phagosome acidification-dependent and ROS-mediated intracellular killing of Mycobacterium abscessus in human macrophages

Provisionally accepted

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Mycobacterium abscessus (Mab) is an opportunistic nontuberculous mycobacterium responsible of difficult-to-treat pulmonary infections in vulnerable patients, such as those suffering from Cystic Fibrosis (CF), where it represents a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Additionally, due to the intrinsic extensive antimicrobial resistance spectrum displayed by this species and the side effects reported for some available antibiotics, the therapeutic management of such infections remains extremely difficult. In the present study, we show that phosphatidylserine liposomes (PS-L) enhance intracellular mycobacterial killing of Mab infected human macrophages with functional or pharmacologically inhibited cystic fibrosis conductance regulator (CFTR), by a mechanism involving phagosome acidification and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Additionally, PS-L significantly reduce proinflammatory response of Mab infected macrophages in terms of NF-kB activation and TNF-a production, irrespective of CFTR inhibition. Altogether, these results represent the proof of concept for a possible future development of PS-L as a therapeutic strategy against difficult-to-treat Mab infection.

    Keywords: phosphatidylserine, Liposome, Cystic Fibrosis, mycobacterium abscessus, innate immunity, Host-directed therapy

    Received: 04 Jun 2024; Accepted: 31 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Olimpieri, Poerio, Ponsecchi, Di Lallo, D'Andrea and Fraziano. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Maurizio Fraziano, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Roma, 00173, Lazio, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.