The uptake of apoptotic cells drives Coxiella burnetii replication and macrophage polarization: a model for Q fever endocarditis.

ABSTRACT: Patients with valvulopathy have the highest risk to develop infective endocarditis (IE), although the relationship between valvulopathy and IE is not clearly understood. Q fever endocarditis, an IE due to Coxiella burnetii, is accompanied by immune impairment. Patients with valvulopathy exhibited increased levels of circulating apoptotic leukocytes, as determined by the measurement of active caspases and nucleosome determination. The binding of apoptotic cells to monocytes and macrophages, the hosts of C. burnetii, may be responsible for the immune impairment observed in Q fever endocarditis. Apoptotic lymphocytes (AL) increased C. burnetii replication in monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages in a cell-contact dependent manner, as determined by quantitative PCR and immunofluorescence.

SUBMITTER: Benoit M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2361190 | biostudies-literature | 2008 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature