C. acnes CNS catheter infection elicits modest early inflammatory changes but long term alterations in the CSF proteome

ABSTRACT: Shunt infections lead to grave neurologic morbidity for patients especially when there is a delay in diagnosis. C. acnes is the third most common cause of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunt infection and is underdiagnosed due to the difficulty in culturing this fastidious, slow growing pathogen. Currently the gold standard for diagnosis of CSF shunt infections is microbiologic culture, however, in the case of C. acnes diagnostic cultures may be falsely negative. Therefore, new diagnostic methods are needed. To investigate potential CSF biomarkers of C. acnes CSF shunt infection we adapted a previously published rat model of CSF shunt infection to C. acnes. We found elevated levels of IL-1β, IL-6, CCL2 and IL-10 in the CSF and brain tissues of animals implanted with C. acnes infected catheters compared to sterile controls at day 1 post-infection. We found modest increases in neutrophils in the CSF and to a greater extend the brain tissue of animals with C. acnes infection which mirrors the clinical findings in C. acnes shunt infection. Mass spectrometry revealed that the CSF proteome is altered during C. acnes shunt infection and changes over the course of infection with an acute phase and pathogen neutralization response at day 1 post-infection to a more biosynthetic and metabolic response at day 28 post-infection relating to healing. Collectively, these results demonstrate that it is possible to distinguish C. acnes infection from sterile post-operative inflammation and CSF proteins could be useful in a diagnostic strategy for this pathogen that is difficult to diagnose.

INSTRUMENT(S): Orbitrap Fusion Lumos

ORGANISM(S): Rattus Norvegicus (rat)

TISSUE(S): Cerebrospinal Fluid

SUBMITTER: Ishwor Thapa  

LAB HEAD: Gwenn L. Skar

PROVIDER: PXD020527 | Pride | 2022-02-15

REPOSITORIES: Pride