title: A novel human antimicrobial factor targets Pseudomonas aeruginosa through its type III secretion system.
abstract: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic bacterial pathogen. Despite its metabolic and virulence versatility, it has not been shown to infect articular joints, which are areas that are rarely infected with bacteria in general. We hypothesized that articular joints possess antimicrobial activity that limits bacterial survival in these environments. We report that cartilages secrete a novel antimicrobial factor, henceforth referred to as the cartilage-associated antimicrobial factor (CA-AMF), with potent antimicrobial activity. Importantly, CA-AMF exhibited significantly more antimicrobial activity against P. aeruginosa strains with a functional type III secretion system (T3SS). We propose that CA-AMF represents a new class of human antimicrobial factors in innate immunity, one which has evolved to selectively target pathogenic bacteria among the beneficial and commensal microflora. The T3SS is the first example, to the best of our knowledge, of a pathogen-specific molecular target in this antimicrobial defence system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology/Microbiology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Fareeha
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mahmood
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
authors.forename: Arnavaz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hakimiyan
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology/Microbiology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Vijayakumar
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jayaraman
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology/Microbiology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology/Microbiology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Gayathri
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sivaramakrishnan
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology/Microbiology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Tooba
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rehman
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
authors.forename: Bradley L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Reuhs
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chubinskaya
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology/Microbiology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Sasha H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Shafikhani
mesh_terms: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D058947:Bacterial Secretion Systems / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D002356:Cartilage / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D058947:Bacterial Secretion Systems