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Conditioning of epithelial surfaces for defense by probiotic and commensal bacteria

Subject Area Immunology
Term from 2011 to 2015
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 208969398
 
Final Report Year 2015

Final Report Abstract

Human skin, the primary interface between the body and environment, is constantly exposed to an immense number of potential pathogens, while at the same time allows commensal bacteria to colonize and form a tissue specific microbiota. This skin resident microbiota plays an important role in innate and adaptive immune responses against pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus. Keratinocytes, as the most abundant cell type in the epidermis, actively participate in the innate immune response towards pathogens e.g. by cytokine production or expression of antimicrobial peptides. Skin commensal bacteria are able to amplify the immune response of keratinocytes and create a protective environment by immune conditioning of the epithelial barrier. We show that the skin resident bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidis is not only able to amplify defensive immune responses in human primary keratinocytes, but also have a protective effect on pathogen attachment and invasion. This effect on S. aureus attachment and invasion could be observed using alive S. epidermidis and culture supernatant, indicating that S. epidermidis secreted factors might be responsible for immune conditioning of the epithelial barrier. Furthermore, by using an epicutaneous mouse skin infection model, we demonstrate that skin barrier defects reverse the protective effect of S. epidermidis and increase skin colonization with pathogens. In addition, experiments using knock-out mice addressed the molecular mechanisms of the immune-modulating effect of skin commensals on pathogen infection. We could show that the enhancing effect of S. epidermidis in an inflammatory environment seems to be mainly MyD88 and TLR-independent, whereas the protective effect of S. epidermidis in a noninflammatory environment is MyD88 dependent. In summary, we show that skin commensal bacteria are able to amplify the innate immune response against pathogens and create a protective environment by immune conditioning of the epithelial surface in vitro and in vivo, which is however dependent on the integrity of the epithelial barrier.

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