Bacteria hijack a meningeal neuroimmune axis to facilitate brain invasion.

ABSTRACT: The meninges are densely innervated by nociceptive sensory neurons that mediate pain and headache^1,2. Bacterial meningitis causes life-threatening infections of the meninges and central nervous system, affecting more than 2.5 million people a year^3-5. How pain and neuroimmune interactions impact meningeal antibacterial host defences are unclear. Here we show that Nav1.8⁺ nociceptors signal to immune cells in the meninges through the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) during infection. This neuroimmune axis inhibits host defences and exacerbates bacterial meningitis. Nociceptor neuron ablation reduced meningeal and brain invasion by two bacterial pathogens: Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus agalactiae. S. pneumoniae activated nocice

SUBMITTER: Pinho-Ribeiro FA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10593113 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature