Chlamydia is an obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen that causes a wide spectrum of diseases worldwide. At present, there are no vaccines to prevent chlamydial infections due to poor understanding of how anti-chlamydial immunity ensues. In this study, we employed a variety of in vitro and in vivo systems, including knockout (KO) mice and adoptive transfer, to investigate the role of lung dendritic cells (LDCs) and their relationship with innate lymphocytes, natural killer (NK) and invariant NKT (iNKT) cells, in host defense against chlamydial lung infections in mice. We found that iNKT cells altered the phenotype and cytokine production pattern of LDCs following C. pneumoniae infection. Adoptive transfer of LDCs from infected Jα18-KO mice, which lack iNKT cells, into naïve wild-type (WT) mice promoted Th2 (IL-4) immunity following infection challenge, whereas the transfer of LDCs from the infected WT mice induced protective Th1/Tc1 (IFN-γ) immunity. On the other hand, upon adoptive transfer, LDCs from C. muridarum-infected NK-cell-depleted mice (NK-LDCs) conferred reduced protection after chlamydial challenge than the recipients of LDCs from infected sham-treated mice (NK+LDCs). NK+LDC recipients exhibited an enhanced Th1/Th17, in contrast to Th2, response compared to the NK-LDC recipients. In coculture experiments, NK cells isolated from the infected mice promoted IL-12p70, IL-6, and IL-23 production by LDCs through NKG2D receptor signaling. These findings indicate that iNKT and NK cells condition LDCs to confer protective Th1/Tc1/Th17 immunity against chlamydial lung infection. We also analyzed the contribution of major LDC subsets, CD103+ and CD11bhi LDCs, in host defense against C. muridarum infection. We found that CD103+ and CD11bhi LDC subsets expanded following chlamydial infection. CD103+ LDCs showed higher expression of costimulatory molecules and greater production of Th1- and Th17-inducing cytokines (IL-12, IL-6 and IL-23) than CD11bhi LDCs. Coculture of Chlamydia-specific CD4+ T cells with LDC subsets revealed that the T cells cultured with CD103+ LDCs produced larger amounts of IFN-γ and IL-17 compared to those with CD11bhi LDCs. To test their function in vivo, we isolated CD103+ and CD11bhi LDC subsets from infected mice and transferred them into naïve syngeneic mice that received chlamydial challenge. CD103+ LDC-recipients showed better protection, as evidenced by their reduced body weight loss, bacterial burden and lung pathology, than CD11bhi LDC recipients. Mice that received CD103+, compared to CD11bhi, LDCs produced enhanced Th1/Th17 cytokines (IFN-γ and IL-17) in the lung and the MLNs. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that CD103+ LDCs are more efficient in inducing Th1/Th17 immunity to chlamydial infection than CD11bhi LDCs. Taken together, our findings have provided direct in vivo evidence on the role of LDCs and their conditioning by iNKT and NK cells in generating mucosal T-cell immunity against a bacterial lung infection. The findings have added new knowledge to the field of lung immunology, which have implications for developing prophylactic and/or therapeutic strategies against respiratory diseases. / October 2015

No description available.

Lyme borreliosis is a multisystemic disease affecting skin, joints, heart and central nervous system. The disease is caused by spirochetes of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex. These bacteria are spread by ticks of Ixodes genus. In 2016 there were almost 4,000 newly infected individuals reported in the Czech Republic. Contemporary serological diagnostics of Lyme borreliosis is not sensitive nor specific enough and does not even correlate with the pathology of the disease in the early or late phases. For the correct diagnosis of the disease it is necessary to detect the pathogen and its genotype. For this reason we had aimed at two goals. Through the digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) method we detected Borrelia-specific DNA and its genotype. The detection limit of borrelial DNA was set on gDNA samples isolated from the tick. Detection threshold for the initial amount of 1 ng of tick gDNA is at the range of 10-17 g of specific borrelial DNA. Borrelia spp. coinfection was detected in 5 out of 12 tested samples. The most frequent type was B. garinii which was detected in 5 samples. On the basis of published sequences for virulent factors we have designed specific primers in conserved regions of the genes flanking their variable segments to be PCR amplified. Gene variability will be monitored through...