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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Molecular Innate Immunity
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1504886

Recognition of Staphylococcus aureus by the pattern recognition molecules langerin, mannan-binding lectin, and surfactant protein Dthe influence of capsular polysaccharides and wall teichoic acid

Provisionally accepted
Kirstine Mejlstrup Hymøller Kirstine Mejlstrup Hymøller 1,2*Stig Hill Christiansen Stig Hill Christiansen 1,2Anders Grønnegaard Schlosser Anders Grønnegaard Schlosser 3Uffe B. Skov Sørensen Uffe B. Skov Sørensen 1Jean Claire Lee Jean Claire Lee 4Steffen Thiel Steffen Thiel 1,2
  • 1 Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
  • 2 The Centre for Cellular Signal Patterns (CellPAT), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
  • 3 Department of Inflammation Research, Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
  • 4 Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

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

    The innate immune system plays a critical role in the rapid recognition and elimination of pathogens through pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Among these PRRs are the C-type lectins (CTLs) langerin, mannan-binding lectin (MBL), and surfactant protein D (SP-D), which recognize carbohydrate patterns on pathogens. Each represents proteins from different compartments of the body and employs separate effector mechanisms. We have investigated their interaction with the Gram-positive opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium whose cell wall contains two key glycopolymers: capsular polysaccharide (CP) and wall teichoic acid (WTA). Using a langerin-expressing cell line and recombinant langerin, MBL, and SP-D, we demonstrated that langerin, MBL, and SP-D all recognize nonencapsulated S. aureus. However, the bacterium may produce CP that effectively shields S. aureus from recognition by all three CTLs. Experiments utilizing mutant S. aureus strains confirmed that WTA is a ligand for MBL, but that langerin likely interacts with an additional unknown ligand. A competition assay revealed that MBL and SP-D inhibit langerin's interaction with S. aureus, highlighting the intricate redundancy and cooperation within the innate immune system. This study highlights the dynamic interplay of langerin, MBL, and SP-D in recognizing specific surface structures on S. aureus and provides insight into how this pathogen evades innate immune recognition.

    Keywords: Innate immunity1, langerin2, mannan-binding lectin3, surfactant protein D4, S. aureus5, C-type lectins6, capsular polysaccharides7, wall teichoic acid8

    Received: 01 Oct 2024; Accepted: 17 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hymøller, Christiansen, Schlosser, Skov Sørensen, Lee and Thiel. 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: Kirstine Mejlstrup Hymøller, Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

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