title: Listeria monocytogenes and the Inflammasome: From Cytosolic Bacteriolysis to Tumor Immunotherapy.
abstract: Inflammasomes are cytosolic innate immune surveillance systems that recognize a variety of danger signals, including those from pathogens. Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive intracellular bacterium evolved to live within the harsh environment of the host cytosol. Further, L. monocytogenes can activate a robust cell-mediated immune response that is being harnessed as an immunotherapeutic platform. Access to the cytosol is critical for both causing disease and inducing a protective immune response, and it is hypothesized that the cytosolic innate immune system, including the inflammasome, is critical for both host protection and induction of long-term immunity. L. monocytogenes can activate a variety of inflammasomes via its pore-forming toxin listeriolysin-O, flagellin, or DNA released through bacteriolysis; however, inflammasome activation attenuates L. monocytogenes, and as such, L. monocytogenes has evolved a variety of ways to limit inflammasome activation. Surprisingly, inflammasome activation also impairs the host cell-mediated immune response. Thus, understanding how L. monocytogenes activates or avoids detection by the inflammasome is critical to understand the pathogenesis of L. monocytogenes and improve the cell-mediated immune response generated to L. monocytogenes for more effective immunotherapies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1550 Linden Dr. Rm 4203, Madison, WI, 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Theisen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1550 Linden Dr. Rm 4203, Madison, WI, 53706, USA. sauer3@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: John-Demian
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Sauer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001433:Bacteriolysis; D003600:Cytosol / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007167:Immunotherapy; D058847:Inflammasomes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D008088:Listeriosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D058847:Inflammasomes
keywords: AIM2; Adaptive immunity; Immunotherapy; Inflammasome; Innate immunity macrophage; Listeria monocytogenes