Complement is an essential component of the innate and acquired immune system1, and consists of a series of proteolytic cascades that are initiated by the presence of micro-organisms. In health, activation of complement is precisely controlled through membrane-bound and soluble plasma-regulatory proteins including factor H (fH)2, a 155 kDa protein composed of twenty domains (termed complement control protein repeats, or CCPs). Many pathogens have evolved the ability to avoid immune- killing by recruiting host complement regulators3 and several pathogens have adapted to avoid complement-mediated killing by sequestering fH to their surface4. Here we present the first structure of a complement regulator in complex with its pathogen surface-protein ligand. This reveals how the important human pathogen Neisseria meningitidis subverts immune responses by mimicking the host, using protein instead of charged-carbohydrate chemistry to recruit the host complement regulator, factor H. The structure also indicates the molecular basis of the host-specificity of the interaction between factor H and the meningococcus, and informs attempts to develop novel therapeutics and vaccines.

Neisseria meningitidis is an important cause of septicemia and meningitis. To cause disease, the bacterium must successfully survive in the bloodstream where it has to avoid being killed by host innate immune mechanisms, particularly the complement system. A number of pathogenic microbes bind factor H (fH), the negative regulator of the alternative pathway of complement activation, to promote their survival in vivo. In this study, we show that N. meningitidis binds fH to its surface. Binding to serogroups A, B, and C N. meningitidis strains was detected by FACS and Far Western blot analysis, and occurred in the absence of other serum factors such as C3b. Unlike Neisseria gonorrhoeae, binding of fH to N. meningitidis was independent of sialic acid on the bacterium, either as a component of its LPS or its capsule. Characterization of the major fH binding partner demonstrated that it is a 33-kDa protein; examination of insertion mutants showed that porins A and B, outer membrane porins expressed by N. meningitidis, do not contribute significantly to fH binding. We examined the physiological consequences of fH bound to the bacterial surface. We found that fH retains its activity as a cofactor of factor I when bound to the bacterium and contributes to the ability of N. meningitidis to avoid complement-mediated killing in the presence of human serum. Therefore, the recruitment of fH provides another mechanism by which this important human pathogen evades host innate immunity.

No abstract

Previous studies on Neisseria gonorrhoeae have demonstrated that metabolism of lactate in the presence of glucose increases the growth rate of the bacterium and enhances its resistance to complement-mediated killing. Although these findings in vitro suggest that the acquisition of lactate promotes gonococcal colonization, the significance of this carbon source to the survival of the gonococcus in vivo remains unknown. To investigate the importance of lactate utilization during Neisseria gonorrhoeae genital tract infection, we identified the gene lctP, which encodes the gonococcal lactate permease. A mutant that lacks a functional copy of lctP was unable to take up exogenous lactate and did not grow in defined medium with lactate as the sole carbon source, in contrast to the wild-type and complemented strains; the mutant strain exhibited no growth defect in defined medium containing glucose. In defined medium containing physiological concentrations of lactate and glucose, the lctP mutant demonstrated reduced early growth and increased sensitivity to complement-mediated killing compared with the wild-type strain; the enhanced susceptibility to complement was associated with a reduction in lipopolysaccharide sialylation of the lctP mutant. The importance of lactate utilization during colonization was evaluated in the murine model of lower genital tract infection. The lctP mutant was significantly attenuated in its ability to colonize and survive in the genital tract, while the complemented mutant exhibited no defect for colonization. Lactate is a micronutrient in the genital tract that contributes to the survival of the gonococcus.Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae that elicits an intense inflammatory response within the human genital tract. The bacterium causes a purulent discharge in the urethra and/or cervix containing polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), cell debris, and serum components (5). N. gonorrhoeae must survive and multiply within this hostile environment. Lactate, along with glucose and pyruvate, is one of the few carbon energy sources that can be utilized by pathogenic Neisseria, and the acquisition of lactate has been implicated in the virulence of this species (28). The first indication that lactate metabolism might contribute to the pathogenesis of gonococcal infection was the demonstration that lactate from human neutrophils stimulated oxygen consumption by gonococci, which in turn could impair oxygen-dependent bactericidal mechanisms (1). Additionally, work on bacteria recovered directly from exudates from the lower genital tract or grown in vitro showed that the gonococcus can incorporate host-derived cytidine 5Ј-monophosphate-N-acetyl neuraminic acid (CMP-NANA) into its lipopolysaccharide (LPS), thereby promoting resistance to killing by complement and by phagocytes (13, 36). It has also been shown that lactate from blood cell extracts enhances LPS sialylation of the gonococcus as it emerges from lag phase during growth in a medium containing glucose (2...