Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI) is a common commensal and opportunistic pathogen of the human airways. For example, NTHI is a leading cause of otitis media and is the most common cause of airway infections associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). These infections are often chronic/recurrent in nature and involve bacterial persistence within biofilm communities that are highly resistant to host clearance. Our previous work has shown that NTHI within biofilms has increased expression of factors associated with oxidative stress responses. The goal of this study was to define the roles of catalase (encoded by hktE) and a bifunctional peroxiredoxin-glutaredoxin (encoded by pdgX) in resistance of NTHI to oxidants and persistence in vivo. Isogenic NTHI strain 86-028NP mutants lacking hktE and pdgX had increased susceptibility to peroxide. Moreover, these strains had persistence defects in the chinchilla infection model for otitis media, as well as in a murine model for COPD. Additional work showed that pdgX and hktE were important determinants of NTHI survival within neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), which we have shown to be an integral part of NTHI biofilms in vivo. Based on these data, we conclude that catalase and peroxiredoxin-glutaredoxin are determinants of bacterial persistence during chronic/recurrent NTHI infections that promote bacterial survival within NETs.
Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI) is a common resident of the human upper airways, where carriage is usually asymptomatic (1). In patients with mucociliary clearance deficits, NTHI can also cause opportunistic infections; these include airway infections in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (2) and otitis media infections in children (3). These infections are often chronic and recurrent in nature, and it is now well established that the persistent NTHI populations reside within biofilm communities on the airway surface (4-6). NTHI persists in the chinchilla middle ear even in the face of immune effectors that contribute to the biofilm structure, such as neutrophils and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) (7). These NETs can have phagocytosis-independent antimicrobial activity that involves trapping of invading microorganisms by decondensed chromatin and microbicides from the neutrophil granules, which decorate the DNA NET lattice (8, 9). Our recent work shows that NTHI bacteria survive within NETs (7) and are resistant to extracellular killing within the NET and phagocytic killing by incoming neutrophils (10).The objective of the present study was to test the relevance of peroxiredoxin-glutaredoxin (encoded by pdgX) and catalase (encoded by hktE) in opportunistic infections caused by NTHI strain 86-028NP. The data support the conclusion that these factors have overlapping roles in resistance of NTHI to oxidative killing and thus promote survival of NTHI within NET structures and persistence in vivo in the lung and middle ear.
MATERIALS AND METHODSBacterial culture and manipulation. A ...