Analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Uptake by Alveolar Macrophages after Ex vivo Expansion Indicates Processing Host Cells with Pathogen Actually from Lung Tissue of Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Abstract

Background: Previously, the ex vivo cultures of alveolar macrophages were developed from the surgical samples of the lungs in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) to establish the unique features of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) lifestyle in host cells, but the question has remained whether Mtb-infected cells are isolated from the human lungs or they may be the result of Mtb phagocytosis in ex vivo culture. The study was aimed to investigate Mtb uptake by TB patients' cells after ex vivo expansion.

Methods: Alveolar macrophages were infected with the Mtb clinical isolates in ex vivo culture, and the acid-fast Mtb loads in the cells were analyzed. Immunofluorescent staining and the examination of cytological and histological preparations by confocal microscopy were applied to detect Mtb ligands and macrophage surface markers.

Results: The studies shown the lack of Mtb uptake by patients' alveolar macrophages during experimental infection with highly virulent Mtb clinical isolates containing pathogen-associated molecular patterns lipoarabinomannan and Ag38 at all used multiplicity of infection including a very high dose of infection. This fact was probably determined by the absence of pattern recognition receptors CD14, TLR2, and CD11b on the plasma membrane of human cells, likely, as a result of cellular processing from the resected lung tissues of patients.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that alveolar macrophages with single Mtb or Mtb in colonies, including those with cord-morphology, found in the ex vivo cell cultures of all TB patients examined, were isolated from the lungs, and they characterize the Mtb infection in patients at the time of surgery.

Keywords: Alveolar macrophages; Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates; pathogen-associated molecular patterns; patients with pulmonary tuberculosis; pattern recognition receptors; phagocytosis.