Haemophilus influenzae responds to glucocorticoids used in asthma therapy by modulation of biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance.

ABSTRACT: Glucocorticosteroids are used as a main treatment to reduce airway inflammation in people with asthma who suffer from neutrophilic airway inflammation, a condition frequently associated with Haemophilus influenzae colonization. Here we show that glucocorticosteroids have a direct influence on the behavior of H. influenzae that may account for associated difficulties with therapy. Using a mouse model of infection, we show that corticosteroid treatment promotes H. influenzae persistence. Transcriptomic analysis of bacteria either isolated from infected mouse airway or grown in laboratory medium identified a number of genes encoding regulatory factors whose expression responded to the presence of glucocorticosteroids. Importantly, a number of these corticosteroid-responsive genes also showed

SUBMITTER: Earl CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4551341 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature