Gene expression profiling in human neutrophils after infection with Acinetobacter baumannii in vitro

Acinetobacter baumannii is a Gram negative nosocomial pathogen that has acquired increasing worldwide notoriety due to its high antibiotic resistance range and mortality rates in hospitalized patients. Therefore, it is necessary to better understand key aspects of A. baumannii pathogenesis such as host-pathogen interactions. In this report, we analyzed both gene expression and cytokine production by human neutrophils infected with A. baumannii. Our assays reveal a proinflammatory response of neutrophils after A. baumannii infection, since intracellular transcription of effector proteins such as COX-2, transcription factors, and proinflammatory cytokines resulted significantly upregulated in neutrophils infected by A. baumannii, compared with unstimulated human neutrophils. Translation and release of CXCL-8, IL-1β and TNF-α by neutrophils was confirmed by protein quantification in culture supernatants. Results obtained in this report reinforce the importance of human neutrophils in controlling A. baumannii infections but also emphasize the proinflammatory nature of these host-pathogen interactions as a target for future immunomodulatory therapies.