Interaction of fibrinogen and muramidase-released protein promotes the development of Streptococcus suis meningitis.

Muramidase-released protein (MRP) is as an important virulence marker of Streptococcus suis (S. suis) serotype 2. Our previous works have shown that MRP can bind human fibrinogen (hFg); however, the function of this interaction in S. suis meningitis is not known. In this study, we found that the deletion of mrp significantly impairs the hFg-mediated adherence and traversal ability of S. suis across human cerebral microvascular endothelial cells (hCMEC/D3). Measurement of the permeability to Lucifer yellow in vitro and Evans blue extravasation in vivo show that the MRP-hFg interaction significantly increases the permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In the mouse meningitis model, wild type S. suis caused higher bacterial loads in the brain and more severe histopathological signs of meningitis than the mrp mutant at day 3 post-infection. Western blot analysis and immunofluorescence observations reveal that the MRP-hFg interaction can destroy the cell adherens junction protein p120-catenin of hCMEC/D3. These results indicate that the MRP-hFg interaction is important in the development of S. suis meningitis.

Introduction

Streptococcus suis (S. suis) serotype 2 is an important emerging zoonotic pathogen that can cause meningitis, endocarditis, arthritis, pneumonia, bacteremia, and sudden death in swine and humans (Segura, 2009). Sporadic cases of S. suis infection in humans have been reported in several European and Asian countries as well as in North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand. This bacterium can affect not only the workers in close contact with pigs or swine byproducts but also the general population. Meningitis is the most important clinical feature associated with S. suis infection in human, with high morbidity and mortality. In China, the outbreak of S. suis serotype 2 in 2005 resulted in more than 200 human cases of infection with a fatality rate near 20% (Yu et al., 2006). In Vietnam, S. suis was the most frequent cause of bacterial meningitis in adults (Hoa et al., 2013). Meningitis caused by S. suis likely develops through a multi-step process of bacteria-host interaction (Gottschalk and Segura, 2000; Gottschalk et al., 2010). Individuals can be infected through skin lesions or the oral route followed by invasion, bacteremia and septicemia with or without meningitis. Bacteria reach central nervous system by crossing the blood–brain barrier (BBB) which is mostly composed of brain microvascular endothelial cells. The effect of the interactions between specific S. suis virulence factors and host factors at the BBB is not understood.

The blood protein fibrinogen is synthesized primarily in the liver under normal conditions (Herrick et al., 1999) and interacts with a number of integrin and non-integrin receptors expressed on many cell types in the hematopoietic, immune and nervous system using multiple non-overlapping sites. For example, fibrinogen can bind glycoprotein IIb-IIIa (GPIIb-IIIa) on the surface of agonist-stimulated platelets leading to platelet aggregation (Bennett, 2001). Additionally, fibrinogen can bind to CD11b/CD18 expressed on cells of the immune system and cause a broad spectrum of cell signaling responses, such as activation of NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) to mediate adhesion, migration, chemotaxis, and phagocytosis (Ryu et al., 2009). Fibrinogen can also mediate diseases by bridging the surface proteins of pathogen in the bloodstream or within tissues. In recent years, many cell wall proteins in gram-positive bacteria, such as the M protein of Group A streptococci (Whitnack and Beachey, 1985), FbsA of S. agalactiae (Tenenbaum et al., 2005), FnbpA of S. aureus (Wann et al., 2000), ClfA of S. aureus (Josefsson et al., 2001), SdrG of S. epidermidis (Davis et al., 2001) have been shown to interact with fibrinogen and play different biological functions in pathogenesis.

Muramidase-released protein (MRP) was discovered as a factor released from virulent S. suis serotype 2 strains after muramidase treatment (Smith et al., 1992). Differences in the expression of MRP and extracellular factor (EF) are associated with the virulence of S. suis serotype 2 strains, but an intranasal infection model using newborn germfree pig showed that the isogenic mrp mutant was as virulent as the wild-type strain (Smith et al., 1996). Therefore, MRP was thought to be an important virulence marker but not a critical virulence factor for S. suis serotype 2. However, our recent in vitro study found that MRP could bind to human fibrinogen (hFg) and, promote the anti-phagocytosis of S. suis serotype 2 to neutrophils thereby enhancing the survival of bacteria in human blood (Pian et al., 2015). These results indicate that MRP might have undiscovered functions. The biological functions of MRP binding to fibrinogen in S. suis meningitis has not been investigated.

In the present report, we show that hFg increases the adherence and traversal ability of S. suis to hCMEC/D3 cell monolayer. In addition, we provide evidence that the MRP-hFg interaction increases the permeability of the BBB by destroying the stability of p120-catenin, resulting in the development of S. suis meningitis.

Materials and Methods

Ethics Statement

CD1 mice (female, 6 to 8 weeks-old) were used in this study. All animals were purchased from the animal center of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS) and housed under SPF condition. Animals were cared for in accordance with the principles of laboratory animal care approved in China. All experimental procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of AMMS.

Bacterial Strains, Cell, and Culture Conditions

The S. suis strain 05ZYH33 and the isogenic deletion mutant 05ZYH33Δ mrp used in this study were cultured as previously described (Geng et al., 2008). The mutant 05ZYH33Δmrp was constructed by targeted gene allelic replacement with a constitutively expressed chloromycin resistance cassette as we previously described (Pian et al., 2012). The immortalized human cerebral microvascular endothelial cells (hCMEC/D3) were donated by Professor Pierre-Olivier Couraud (INSERM, Paris) and cultured by previously described methods (Weksler et al., 2013).

Adherence Assay

Adherence of S. suis to hCMEC/D3 cells was assayed as previously described with some modifications (Tenenbaum et al., 2005). Briefly, hCMEC/D3 cells were cultured in 96-well tissue culture plates at a seeding density of 1 × 104 cells per well and grown until confluent. The cell culture medium was replaced with EBM-2 complete medium without antibiotics 24 h before infection. After washing once with PBS, log-phase S. suis was resuspended in EBM-2 complete medium plus recombinant hirudin (70 U/mL) without antibiotics and adjusted to 106 CFU/mL. The bacteria were incubated with a series of concentrations of hFg for 1 h at 37°C with rotation, and then added to hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 10:1 for 2 h at 37°C in 5% CO2. The cell monolayers were washed four times with PBS and then lysed with 0.1% saponin on ice for 20 min. The number of cell-adherent bacteria was determined by plating appropriate dilutions of the lysate on THB agar plates. Bacterial adherence was calculated as (recovered CFU/initial inoculum CFU) × 100%.

Fluorescent Microscopy

HCMEC/D3 cells were grown until confluent on 12-mm diameter glass coverslips coated with 5 μg/cm2 of rat tail collagen type I. The cells were grown in EBM-2 medium with 0.25% FBS and hirudin (70 U/mL) without antibiotics 24 h before infection. Log-phase S. suis was pre-incubated with hFg for 1 h and then added to the hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers at a MOI of 100:1 for 25 min. After infection, hCMEC/D3 cells were fixed with 3.7% paraformaldehyde for 20 min at RT and then permeabilized with 0.1% Triton X-100 for 15 min. After blocking with 1% BSA for 1 h, hCMEC/D3 cells were stained with rabbit anti-p120-catenin antibody (Santa Cruz, CA, USA, 1:100 dilution in 0.3% BSA) and Alexa Fluor 594-conjugated goat anti-rabbit antibody (Invitrogen, CA, USA, 1:200 dilution in 0.3% BSA). Coverslips were mounted on glass slides with DAPI (Vector Labs) and observed with a confocal laser scanning microscope (FV1000, Olympus).

For adherence assays, confluent hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers on glass coverslips were grown in EBM-2 medium containing 0.25% FBS and hirudin (70 U/mL) with or without exogenous hFg 3 h prior to bacterial infection. Log-phase S. suis 05ZYH33 and 05ZYH33Δmrp were labeled with BCECF for 30 min and then added to the cell monolayers at a MOI of 100:1 for 2 h. After gently rinsing three times with PBS, hCMEC/D3 cells were fixed and permeabilized as described above. Cell monolayers were stained with 100 nM Rhodamine-labeled Phalloidin (Cytoskeleton, Inc.) for 1 h at room temperature and mounted on glass slides with DAPI.

Streptococcus suis Transendothelial Migration Assay

For transendothelial migration assays, hCMEC/D3 cells were grown until confluent on 3 μm pore size Millicell® (Millipore) inserts as previously described (Vu et al., 2009). The culture medium was EBM-2 medium supplemented with 0.25% FBS and hirudin (70 U/mL) without antibiotics 24 h before infection. The confluent cell monolayers were pretreated with or without hFg (20 μg/mL) for 3 h and then challenged with log-phase S. suis at a MOI of 100:1 for 25 min. The number of traversal bacteria was determined by plating appropriate dilutions of the basal chamber medium on THB agar plates. The traversal rate of S. suis across the cell monolayer was calculated as (CFU in the basal chamber /initial inoculum CFU in apical chamber) × 100%.

Measurement of Permeability to Lucifer Yellow

HCMEC/D3 cells were grown until confluent on 0.4 μm pore size MilliCell® inserts in 24-well cell plates. Log-phase S. suis was incubated with hFg (20 μg/ml) for 1 h and then added to the hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers at a MOI of 100:1. At the same time, Lucifer yellow (200 μM, Invitrogen) was added to the apical chamber and incubated in transport buffer (EBM-2 medium supplemented with 10 mM HEPES and 1 mM sodium pyruvate) for 30 min. The amount of Lucifer yellow in the basolateral chamber was quantified with a spectrophotometer (Varioskan Flash, Thermo Fisher).

Western Blotting Analysis

Streptococcus suis strains 05ZYH33 and 05ZYH33Δmrp were pre-incubated with hFg for 1 h and added to hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers at a MOI of 100:1 for indicated time. Cell monolayers were washed three times with ice-cold PBS and lysed with 50 mM Tris pH 7.5, 10 mM MgCl2, 0.5 M NaCl, 2% Igepal, complete mini protease inhibitors and phosphatase inhibitors (Roche) on ice for 20 min. Cell lysates were separated by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis and transferred to nitrocellulose membranes. Membranes were incubated with primary antibodies and appropriate HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies. The protein signals were developed with SuperSignal West Dura Extended Duration substrate (Pierce) and imaged using ChemiDocTM XRS+ system (Bio-Rad).

Mouse Model of S. suis Meningitis

A hematogenous S. suis meningitis model of infection in CD1 mice has been described previously (Dominguez-Punaro et al., 2007). Female 6 to 8-week-old CD1 mice (26 ± 2 g, 8 mice per group) were injected via the tail vein with 5 × 106 CFUs of S. suis strains 05ZYH33 or 05ZYH33Δmrp. At day 1, 2, and 3 post-infection, vein blood (10 μL) was collected and at day 3 post-infection, brain tissue was collected aseptically from mice after euthanasia. Bacterial loads in blood and tissue were determined by plating serial 10-fold dilutions of the lysates on THB agar. Brain tissues were fixed in 10% buffered formalin. After embedding in paraffin, tissue sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and examined by light microscopy.

Evaluation of BBB Permeability

Female 6 to 8-week-old CD1 mice (26 ± 2 g) were randomly divided into three groups and injected intraperitoneally with 1 × 107 CFU S. suis 05ZYH33, 05ZYH33Δmrp, or PBS as previously described (Dominguez-Punaro et al., 2007). At 24, 48, and 72 h post-infection, mice were injected intraperitoneally with 800 μl of 1% (w/v) Evans Blue dye and perfused transcardially with PBS 1 h later under anesthesia to remove intravascular Evans Blue dye. Then, the whole brain was weighed, homogenized, and the Evans blue dye was extracted as previously described (Zhang et al., 2010). The extracted supernatant was measured by absorbance spectroscopy at 620 nm for Evans blue determination. Calculations were based on external standards in the same solvent.

Statistical Analysis

The data were analyzed with GraphPad Prism software using one-way or two-way ANOVA analysis followed by Bonferroni’s multiple comparison test, or unpaired t-tests followed by Holm-Sidak method, or by non-parametric Mann-Whitney t-test. For all tests, a P value < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results

Binding of MRP to Fibrinogen Promotes Adherence of S. suis to HCMEC/D3 Cells

Previous studies have found that S. suis serotype 2 has the ability to adhere to and invade porcine brain microvascular endothelial cells (Vanier et al., 2004). In this study, we evaluated if hFg could affect the adherence of S. suis to human brain microvascular endothelial cells. As shown in Figure 1A, with the increase of hFg, both wild type strain 05ZYH33 and the 05ZYH33Δmrp mutant had increased adherence to hCMEC/D3 cells. The adherent ratio of strain 05ZYH33 was significantly higher than that of the 05ZYH33Δmrp mutant in the presence of hFg. Fluorescent microscopy (Figure 1B) showed that in the presence of hFg, there was significantly more BCECF-labeled S. suis 05ZYH33 than that of the 05ZYH33Δmrp mutant. These results indicate that the interaction of MRP and Fg promotes the adherence of S. suis to hCMEC/D3 cell.

FIGURE 1

MRP-hFg interaction promotes the adherence of The adherent ratio of S. suis to hCMEC/D3 cells in the presence of hFg. S. suis 05ZYH33 and 05ZYH33Δmrp mutant were pretreated with a series of concentrations of hFg before infecting a hCMEC/D3 cell monolayer. The adherence ability of S. suis was evaluated by adherence assay. Values represent percent (mean ± S.D.) of total S. suis inoculum bound to the monolayers. (B) The adherent ability of S. suis to hCMEC/D3 cells evaluated by fluorescent microscopy. S. suis 05ZYH33 and 05ZYH33Δmrp mutant were labeled by BCECF (green) before infection, and hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers were treated or untreated with Fg (500 μg/ml). F-actin was strained with Rhodamine-labeled Phalloidin (red), nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). *P < 0.05.

Binding of MRP with Fibrinogen Promotes Traversal of S. suis Across hCMEC/D3 Cell Monolayers

The adherence of bacterium to human brain microvascular endothelial cells is thought to be important for invasion of the central nervous system (Charland et al., 2000). Since binding of MRP with Fg promotes the adherence of S. suis to hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers, we supposed that this interaction might increase the traversal of S. suis across hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers. To test this hypothesis, we pretreated the hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers with or without Fg before S. suis infection. Our results (Figure 2A) show that in the presence of hFg (20 μg/mL), both S. suis strain 05ZYH33 and 05ZYH33Δmrp increased their traversal abilities across the hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers. The traversal ratio of strain 05ZYH33 was significantly higher than that of the mutant strain 05ZYH33Δmrp. The transendothelial cell permeability assay (Figure 2B) also showed that in the presence of hFg, wild-type strain 05ZYH33 infection significantly increased the permeability of Lucifer yellow across the hCMEC/D3 cell monolayer compared to that of the mutant strain 05ZYH33Δmrp. Combined, these results indicate that the interactions of MRP and Fg increase the traversal of S. suis across human in vitro BBB by increasing the permeability of the hCMEC/D3 cell monolayer.

FIGURE 2

MRP-hFg interaction increases the traversal ability of The traversal rate of S. suis across the hCMEC/D3 monolayers. Confluent hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers pretreated with or without Fg were challenged with S. suis 05ZYH33 and 05ZYH33Δmrp for 25 min. The traversed bacteria in the basolateral chamber were enumerated by colony plate count. (B) The transendothelial permeability assay. Fg pretreated S. suis 05ZYH33 or 05ZYH33Δmrp were incubated with hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers in the presence of Lucifer yellow (200 μM) for 30 min. The amount of Lucifer yellow in the basolateral chamber was quantified with a spectrophotometer. D-mannitol was used as positive control as it disrupts cell–cell junctions. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01.

MRP Contributes to Changes in the Permeability of the Blood–Brain Barrier

To evaluate the BBB permeability in vivo, we administered Evans Blue, a dye that is normally excluded from the CNS, to S. suis 05ZYH33 and Δmrp mutant infected mice through an intraperitoneal injection at days 1, 2, and 3 post-infection. Macroscopic inspection of the brain showed more visible penetration of Evans Blue in S. suis 05ZYH33 infected mice than that in Δmrp mutant infected mice at day 3 post-infection (Figure 3A). Quantitative evaluation of extravasated Evans Blue also revealed higher levels in the brain lysates from S. suis 05ZYH33 infected mice than that from Δmrp mutant infected mice at day 3 post-infection (Figure 3B). These data show that MRP might modulate the BBB permeability during the development of S. suis meningitis.

FIGURE 3

Representative images of whole brains stained by Evans blue dye (days 1, 2, 3). (B) Evans blue extravasations in brains at day 3 post-infection, data are expressed as mean ± SEM, n = 6 in each group, *P < 0.05.

MRP Promotes the Development of Meningitis

We next evaluated the effects of the MRP-Fg interaction on the pathogenesis of S. suis meningitis. In this study, CD1 mice were challenged intravenously with wild type S. suis 05ZYH33 (3.31 × 106 CFU) and the Δmrp mutant strain (2.94 × 106 CFU). Bacterial loads in the blood of 05ZYH33 and Δmrp mutant infected mice were comparable from day 1 to day 3 post-infection, but bacterial counts in the brains of 05ZYH33 infected mice at 72 h were significantly higher than that of Δmrp mutant infected mice (Figure 4A). Histopathological lesions such as meningeal thickening and neutrophil infiltration were found in the brains of 05ZYH33 infected mice (Figure 4B) 3 days post-infection, but not of Δmrp mutant infected mice (Figure 4C). These data indicate that MRP promotes the development of S. suis meningitis.

FIGURE 4

MRP contributes to the occurrence of Bacterial loads in the blood and brain from CD1 mice infected with S. suis 05ZYH33 or 05ZYH33Δmrp mutant. The difference between the two groups was determined by a Mann-Whitney test. (B,C) Histopathology of representative brain tissues from CD1 mice infected with S. suis 05ZYH33 (B) and Δmrp mutant (C).

Binding of MRP to Fibrinogen Can Destroy p120-Catenin of HCMEC/D3

The above results indicate that the interaction of MRP with Fg contributes to the development of S. suis meningitis by increasing the permeability of the BBB. Since the tightness of endothelial cells is mainly controlled by vascular endothelial cadherin and claudin-5, we supposed that this interaction might contribute to change the endothelial cell junctions during the S. suis infection. To test this hypothesis, we detected the endothelial cell junction proteins of the hCMEC/D3 cell monolayer challenged with Fg-pretreated S. suis by western blot. S. suis infection could cause a decrease of claudin-5, ZO-1, ZO-2, and VE-cadherin 6 h post-infection, but we observed no significant difference between S. suis 05ZYH33 and 05ZYH33Δmrp infection (data not shown). However, Fg-pretreated S. suis 05ZYH33 caused a dramatic decrease of p120-catenin at 25 min post infection, while Fg-pretreated S. suis 05ZYH33Δmrp caused a slight increase of p120-catenin at 25 min post-infection (Figure 5A). Immunofluorescence microscopy also showed that compared to untreated cells, Fg-pretreated S. suis 05ZYH33 infection caused a marked decrease in the amount of p120-catenin on the surface of hCMEC/D3 cells, while Fg-pretreated S. suis 05ZYH33Δmrp had no significant change in p120-catenin (Figure 5B). These results indicate that binding of MRP to Fg could destroy the stability of p120-catenin, which might contribute to the increased permeability of the BBB.

FIGURE 5

MRP-Fg interaction can destroy p120-catenin of hCMEC/D3. HCMEC/D3 cell monolayers were challenged with Fg pretreated S. suis 05ZYH33 or 05ZYH33Δmrp for the indicated time and the amount of p120-catenin was detected by western blot (A) or by staining for p120-catenin at 25 min post infection (B). Although we show cropped blots, the gels were run under the same experimental conditions.

Discussion

The interaction of S. suis with the BBB plays an important role in the pathogenesis of S. suis meningitis. Several in vitro studies showed that S. suis serotype 2 could adhere to human or porcine brain microvascular endothelial cells (Charland et al., 2000; Vanier et al., 2004), though only invasion of porcine brain microvascular endothelial cells was demonstrated (Vanier et al., 2004). Other studies demonstrated that S. suis acquires plasmin activity when in contact with cultured human brain microvascular endothelial cells (hBMECs) and induces the release of arachidonic acid (Jobin et al., 2005) or the shedding of adhesion molecules from the cell surface of the hBMECs (Grenier and Bodet, 2008). Our recent study showed that suilysin from S. suis could remodel the cytoskeleton of hBMECs by activating RhoA and Rac1 GTPase (Lv et al., 2014).

In this work, we demonstrate that MRP can mediate the interaction of S. suis with the BBB by binding to the blood protein fibrinogen. Previously, MRP has been a phenotypic marker of S. suis virulent strains because MRP is associated with virulent strains of certain countries. But whether MRP is a critical virulence factor of S. suis remains controversy because the function of MRP has not been identified. This study and our previous studies demonstrate that MRP contribute to the virulence of S. suis strain 05ZYH33 by binding to Fg (Pian et al., 2015).

Many human pathogens can anchor to the cell surface of the host by serum proteins or extracellular matrix components (Virji et al., 1995; Sinha et al., 1999; Unkmeir et al., 2002; Schwarz-Linek et al., 2004) and benefit from these interactions. Our results demonstrate that MRP binding to Fg significantly increase the attachment and traversal of S. suis to hBMECs in vitro, which is likely an essential step for the development of S. suis meningitis. Our results show that the interaction of MRP with Fg increase the permeability of the BBB in vitro and in vivo.

Additionally, our results show that the interaction of MRP with Fg could destroy the stability of the adherens junction protein p120-catenin. A central function of p120-catenin is to regulate of intercellular adhesion via controlling the VE-cadherin hemophilic interactions and maintaining the VE-cadherin expression level (Reynolds, 2007). Mutant mice lacking endothelial p120-catenin have decreased VE-cadherin and neural cadherin levels, as well as a cellular proliferation defect that is VE-cadherin-dependent, which demonstrates that p120-catenin is required for vascular development and endothelial function (Oas et al., 2010). Thus, we speculate that the decrease of p120-catenin protein caused by the interaction between MRP and hFg might play an important role in the development of S. suis meningitis.

In summary, our in vitro and in vivo studies suggest that the binding of MRP of S. suis serotype 2 to fibrinogen can promote the adherence and traversal of S. suis across human BMECs, and can facilitate the development of S. suis meningitis.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.