Nlrp1b is a NOD-like receptor of the innate immune system that upon sensing of anthrax lethal toxin oliogmerizes and forms a protein scaffold that binds to and activates pro-caspase-1; this complex is called an inflammasome. Nlrp1b is highly polymorphic and different alleles display an all or none ability to sense lethal toxin. Here I show that Nlrp1b is cleaved in the FIIND domain, and that the cleaved fragments remain associated even after activation by lethal toxin. The inflammasome activity of an inactive allele was restored by three mutations, one of which also restored cleavage. A heterologous cleavage site was inserted into an uncleaved mutant of Nlrp1b; induced proteolysis of the cleavage site rescued inflammasome activity. An uncleaved mutant of Nlrp1b showed no deficiency in FIIND self-association, but did have reduced recruitment of pro-caspase-1. These data provide evidence that cleavage of Nlrp1b is required for proper recruitment and activation of caspase-1.

D. Tech. (Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and Campylobacter jejuni are the leading causes of Salmonellosis and Campylobacteriosis that is characterised by gastroenteritis. These waterborne diseases can be easily prevented by home water treatment methods such as solar disinfection (SODIS). The SODIS process involves placing microbiologically unsafe water in clear plastic or glass bottles and exposing them to direct sunlight for approximately six to eight hours. SODIS kills microbes through a combination of DNA-damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation and thermal inactivation from solar heating. The result is microbiologically safe water. Continuous drinking of SODIS treated water may confer some immunological effects on the consumer. These immunological effects have not been thoroughly explored. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to firstly, characterise the effects of solar irradiation on the viability of S. Typhimurium and C. jejuni; secondly, to determine the cytotoxicity and modulation of cell death of solar irradiated S. Typhimurium and C. jejuni on macrophages. Thirdly, to analyse the chemokine and cytokine profiles of macrophages infected with solar irradiated S. Typhimurium and C. jejuni. Lastly, to analyse the host-cell interactions of macrophages infected with solar-irradiated and non-solar irradiated S. Typhimurium and C. jejuni using a proteomic approach. In all the experiments, S. Typhimurium and C. jejuni were (i) heat/chemically treated, (ii) solar and non-solar irradiated for 4 and 8 hours. A murine macrophage cell line RAW264.7 was co-cultured with the differentially treated bacteria species for 3 and 24 hours. Appropriate controls were included. The impact of solar irradiated S. Typhimurium and C. jejuni on intracellular growth, proliferation, cytotoxicity, and apoptosis on macrophages was assessed. Intracellular growth of the both bacterial species was assessed with the gentamicin protection assay, and cytotoxicity was determined by Lactate Dehydrogenase Assay (LDH). The macrophages treated with solar irradiated S. Typhimurium and C. jejuni showed no intracellular growth after 48 hours post-infection. However, the non-irradiated S. Typhimurium survived within the macrophages and were highly toxic to the macrophages (average cytotoxicity of 91%±32). The non-solar irradiated C. jejuni were metabolically active but non-culturable, whereas the solar-irradiated C. jejuni was metabolically inactive. Thus, solar irradiated C. jejuni showed a lower percentage cytotoxicity (2.57% ± 0.32%) in comparison to non-solar irradiated C. jejuni at 24 hours post-infection (p.i.) (30.28% ± 0.05%). Flow cytometric analysis showed that the non-irradiated S. Typhimurium brought about a statistically significant increase in the percentage of necrotic cells (48% ± 2.99%), whereas bacteria irradiated for 8 hours produced a lower percentage of necrotic cells (25% ± 5.87%). The heat/chemical attenuated samples had the lowest percentage of necrotic cells (21.15% ± 5.36%) at 24 h p.i. Macrophages treated with solar irradiated and non-solar irradiated C. jejuni did not induce necrosis, but apoptotic cell death. At 24 h p.i., the highest proportion of apoptotic cell death was observed in macrophages treated with non-solar irradiated C. jejuni whereas the solar irradiated C. jejuni showed a lower percentage of apoptotic cell death. Therefore, there is great possibility that S. Typhimurium and C. jejuni could become avirulent after SODIS treatment and this could prevent gastroenteritis in consumers of SODIS-treated water. The activation of macrophages infected with solar irradiated S. Typhimurium and C. jejuni was also assessed in this study. The production of nitric oxide (NO) was determined using the Greiss Reagent Assay, whereas the production of chemokines, cytokines, and growth stimulating factors by the RAW264.7 cells in vitro was measured using the Luminex 200. The results showed that both solar and non-solar irradiated S. Typhimurium inhibited the production of nitric oxide in the RAW264.7 cells. The heat/chemically attenuated S. Typhimurium induced a significant increase (p<0.0.5) in the production of NO2− in the macrophages when compared to the unstimulated RAW264.7. The chemokine and cytokine levels produced by the macrophages were similar in the solar inactivated S. Typhimurium and the live untreated S. Typhimurium. However, macrophages treated with heat/chemically attenuated S. Typhimurium showed an anti-inflammatory response by inhibiting the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, and IL-17 in macrophages. The macrophages treated with solar and non-solar irradiated C. jejuni possibly produced an anti-inflammatory effect since the amount of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the samples was significantly reduced during the late infection period (24 h p.i.). This study also analysed the proteomic profiles of macrophages treated with LPS, non-solar irradiated, solar irradiated, heat/ chemical inactivated S. Typhimurium, and C. jejuni. This was carried out using SWATH-mass spectrophotometry-based proteomics. Proteins were extracted from infected macrophages after 24 hours p.i. HILIC-based sample clean-up and digestion, DDA LCMS-MS (spectral library), SWATH LCMS-MS, and data processing were carried out. A total of 15,077 peptides matching to 2,778 proteins were identified at 1% FDR with numerous differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) detected in macrophages treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), non-solar irradiated C. jejuni (NS), heat-attenuated C. jejuni (HA) and 4h-solar irradiated (SI4) and 8h-solar irradiated (SI8) C. jejuni, respectively. Pathway analysis revealed that most of the upregulated proteins in macrophages treated with solar irradiated C. jejuni were involved in oxidation-reduction processes, endoplasmic reticulum stress, transport, antigen processing and presentation of exogenous peptide antigens via MHC class I (TAP-dependant) and ATP-biosynthetic processes. The KEGG-pathways also revealed the roles of some upregulated proteins in lysosomal and phagosome pathways. In conclusion, our results revealed that there is coordinated up-regulation of MHC-I processing pathways occurred at 24 h p.i. It is likely that proteins from solar irradiated C. jejuni may undergo proteasomal degradation, and the peptides are transported to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and loaded onto MHC-I molecules. Peptide loading results in class I complexes consolidation and transit to the cell surface where antigens can be presented to circulating CD8 + T cells. Additionally, solar irradiated C. jejuni also undergoes degradation in the phagosome. The phagosome has the potential to create antigens that can be expressed on the cell surface of macrophages to stimulate different lymphocytes and induce appropriate immune responses, thus, connecting the innate to adaptive immunity, and this could also have health benefits via the consumption of SODIS treated water. However, proteomic analysis of S. Typhimurium showed no significant differentially expressed proteins in macrophages treated with LPS, non-solar irradiated, and solar irradiated S. Typhimurium. This may be due to an overestimation of the extracted protein. However, DEPs in macrophages treated with heat-attenuated S. Typhimurium showed that macrophages may have adapted an anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype because the IFN-γ signalling pathway was downregulated. This may have contributed to non-expression of the chemokine IFN-γ in RAW264.7 cells. Moreover, proteins such as Hmox1 and Sqstm1 were upregulated, and this is also characteristic of M2 macrophages. This study provided new insights on the effect of solar irradiated Salmonella Typhimurium and Campylobacter jejuni on the proliferation and activation of macrophages in vitro.

Renal tubules represent an intercellular unit and function as a syncytium. When acute tubular necrosis was first visualized to occur through a process of synchronized regulated necrosis (SRN) in handpicked primary renal tubules, it became obvious that SRN actually promotes nephron loss. This realization adds to our current understanding of acute kidney injury (AKI)-chronic kidney disease (CKD) transition and argues for the prevention of AKI episodes to prevent CKD progression. Because SRN is triggered by necroptosis and executed by ferroptosis, 2 recently identified signaling pathways of regulated necrosis, a combination therapy employing necrostatins and ferrostatins may be beneficial for protection against nephron loss. Clinical trials in AKI and during the process of kidney transplantation are now required to prevent SRN. Additionally, necrotic cell death drives autoimmunity and necroinflammation and therefore represents a therapeutic target even for the prevention of antibody-mediated rejection of allografts years after the transplantation process.