GSE193219
Staphylococcus aureus induces a muted host response in human blood that blunts the recruitment of neutrophils
Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an opportunistic pathogen chief amongst bloodstream infecting pathogens. MRSA produces an array of human specific virulence factors that may contribute to immune suppression. Here, we defined the response of primary human phagocytes to infection with MRSA using RNA-Seq. We found that the overall transcriptional response to MRSA was weak both in the number of genes and the magnitude of response. Using an ex vivo bacteremia model with fresh human blood, we found that infection with live MRSA resulted in the down-regulation of genes related to innate immune response, and cytokine and chemokine signaling. This muted transcriptional response was conserved across diverse S. aureus clones but absent in heat-killed MRSA or blood infected with live Staphylococcus epidermidis. Importantly, the muted signature was also present in patients with S. aureus bacteremia. We next identified the master regulator SaeRS and the SaeRS-regulated pore-forming toxins as key mediators of transcriptional suppression. The impaired chemokine and cytokine responses were reflected by circulating protein levels in the plasma. MRSA elicits a soluble milieu that is restrictive in the recruitment of human neutrophils compared to strains lacking saeRS. Thus, MRSA blunts the inflammatory response resulting in impaired neutrophil recruitment, which could promote the survival of S. aureus during invasive infection. Overall design: Stimulation of 4 myeloid cell types with Staph of 3 anonymous healthy human donors; mRNA profile of whole blood responding to 2 different concentrations of staph; mRNA profile of whole blood responding to 17 subtypes or mutants of staph