Influenza Infection Induces Alveolar Macrophage Dysfunction and Thereby Enables Noninvasive Streptococcus pneumoniae to Cause Deadly Pneumonia.

ABSTRACT: Secondary Streptococcus pneumoniae infection is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality during influenza epidemics and pandemics. Multiple pathogenic mechanisms, such as lung epithelial damage and dysregulation of neutrophils and alveolar macrophages (AMs), have been suggested to contribute to the severity of disease. However, the fundamental reasons for influenza-induced susceptibility to secondary bacterial pneumonia remain unclear. In this study, we revisited these controversies over key pathogenic mechanisms in a lethal model of secondary bacterial pneumonia with an S. pneumoniae strain that is innocuous to mice in the absence of influenza infection. Using a series of in vivo models, we demonstrate that rather than a systemic suppression of immune responses or neut

SUBMITTER: Verma AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7484308 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature