Streptococcus uberis strains isolated from the bovine mammary gland evade immune recognition by mammary epithelial cells, but not of macrophages

Streptococcus uberis is frequently isolated from the mammary gland of dairy cattle. Infection with some strains can induce mild subclinical inflammation whilst others induce severe inflammation and clinical mastitis. We compared here the inflammatory response of primary cultures of bovine mammary ep...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Günther, Juliane, Czabanska, Anna, Bauer, Isabel, Leigh, James A., Holst, Otto, Seyfert, Hans-Martin
Format: Article
Published: BioMed Central 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38076/
_version_ 1848795591891484672
author Günther, Juliane
Czabanska, Anna
Bauer, Isabel
Leigh, James A.
Holst, Otto
Seyfert, Hans-Martin
author_facet Günther, Juliane
Czabanska, Anna
Bauer, Isabel
Leigh, James A.
Holst, Otto
Seyfert, Hans-Martin
author_sort Günther, Juliane
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Streptococcus uberis is frequently isolated from the mammary gland of dairy cattle. Infection with some strains can induce mild subclinical inflammation whilst others induce severe inflammation and clinical mastitis. We compared here the inflammatory response of primary cultures of bovine mammary epithelial cells (pbMEC) towards S. uberis strains collected from clinical or subclinical cases (seven strains each) of mastitis with the strong response elicited by Escherichia coli. Neither heat inactivated nor live S. uberis induced the expression of 10 key immune genes (including TNF, IL1B, IL6). The widely used virulent strain 0140J and the avirulent strain, EF20 elicited similar responses; as did mutants defective in capsule (hasA) or biofilm formation (sub0538 and sub0539). Streptococcus uberis failed to activate NF-κB in pbMEC or TLR2 in HEK293 cells, indicating that S. uberis particles did not induce any TLR-signaling in MEC. However, preparations of lipoteichoic acid (LTA) from two strains strongly induced immune gene expression and activated NF-κB in pbMEC, without the involvement of TLR2. The immune-stimulatory LTA must be arranged in the intact S. uberis such that it is unrecognizable by the relevant pathogen receptors of the MEC. The absence of immune recognition is specific for MEC, since the same S. uberis preparations strongly induced immune gene expression and NF-κB activity in the murine macrophage model cell RAW264.7. Hence, the sluggish immune response of MEC and not of professional immune cells to this pathogen may aid establishment of the often encountered belated and subclinical phenotype of S. uberis mastitis.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:34:32Z
format Article
id nottingham-38076
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:34:32Z
publishDate 2016
publisher BioMed Central
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-380762020-05-04T17:33:03Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38076/ Streptococcus uberis strains isolated from the bovine mammary gland evade immune recognition by mammary epithelial cells, but not of macrophages Günther, Juliane Czabanska, Anna Bauer, Isabel Leigh, James A. Holst, Otto Seyfert, Hans-Martin Streptococcus uberis is frequently isolated from the mammary gland of dairy cattle. Infection with some strains can induce mild subclinical inflammation whilst others induce severe inflammation and clinical mastitis. We compared here the inflammatory response of primary cultures of bovine mammary epithelial cells (pbMEC) towards S. uberis strains collected from clinical or subclinical cases (seven strains each) of mastitis with the strong response elicited by Escherichia coli. Neither heat inactivated nor live S. uberis induced the expression of 10 key immune genes (including TNF, IL1B, IL6). The widely used virulent strain 0140J and the avirulent strain, EF20 elicited similar responses; as did mutants defective in capsule (hasA) or biofilm formation (sub0538 and sub0539). Streptococcus uberis failed to activate NF-κB in pbMEC or TLR2 in HEK293 cells, indicating that S. uberis particles did not induce any TLR-signaling in MEC. However, preparations of lipoteichoic acid (LTA) from two strains strongly induced immune gene expression and activated NF-κB in pbMEC, without the involvement of TLR2. The immune-stimulatory LTA must be arranged in the intact S. uberis such that it is unrecognizable by the relevant pathogen receptors of the MEC. The absence of immune recognition is specific for MEC, since the same S. uberis preparations strongly induced immune gene expression and NF-κB activity in the murine macrophage model cell RAW264.7. Hence, the sluggish immune response of MEC and not of professional immune cells to this pathogen may aid establishment of the often encountered belated and subclinical phenotype of S. uberis mastitis. BioMed Central 2016-01-07 Article PeerReviewed Günther, Juliane, Czabanska, Anna, Bauer, Isabel, Leigh, James A., Holst, Otto and Seyfert, Hans-Martin (2016) Streptococcus uberis strains isolated from the bovine mammary gland evade immune recognition by mammary epithelial cells, but not of macrophages. Veterinary Research, 47 (13). pp. 1-14. ISSN 1297-9716 Mastitis; Streptococcus; Innate immunity; Bovine; Macrophage http://veterinaryresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13567-015-0287-8 doi:10.1186/s13567-015-0287-8 doi:10.1186/s13567-015-0287-8
spellingShingle Mastitis; Streptococcus; Innate immunity; Bovine; Macrophage
Günther, Juliane
Czabanska, Anna
Bauer, Isabel
Leigh, James A.
Holst, Otto
Seyfert, Hans-Martin
Streptococcus uberis strains isolated from the bovine mammary gland evade immune recognition by mammary epithelial cells, but not of macrophages
title Streptococcus uberis strains isolated from the bovine mammary gland evade immune recognition by mammary epithelial cells, but not of macrophages
title_full Streptococcus uberis strains isolated from the bovine mammary gland evade immune recognition by mammary epithelial cells, but not of macrophages
title_fullStr Streptococcus uberis strains isolated from the bovine mammary gland evade immune recognition by mammary epithelial cells, but not of macrophages
title_full_unstemmed Streptococcus uberis strains isolated from the bovine mammary gland evade immune recognition by mammary epithelial cells, but not of macrophages
title_short Streptococcus uberis strains isolated from the bovine mammary gland evade immune recognition by mammary epithelial cells, but not of macrophages
title_sort streptococcus uberis strains isolated from the bovine mammary gland evade immune recognition by mammary epithelial cells, but not of macrophages
topic Mastitis; Streptococcus; Innate immunity; Bovine; Macrophage
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38076/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38076/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38076/