Persisting Haemophilus influenzae strains induce lower levels of interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 in H292 lung epithelial cells than nonpersisting strains.

Nonencapsulated Haemophilus influenzae strains isolated from patients with chronic bronchitis can be divided into those that persist in the lower respiratory tract and those that do not. We tested the hypothesis that persisting and nonpersisting strains differ in the extent to which they activate epithelial cells to produce two potent inflammatory mediators, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8. A suspension of 10(7) and 10(8) colony forming units (cfu) x mL(-1) of H. influenzae, persisting and nonpersisting, induced a dose- and time-dependent production of IL-6 and IL-8 by the human pulmonary mucoepidermoid carcinoma-derived cell line H292, but levels of IL-6 were lower after exposure to persisting H. influenzae (p<0.05). IL-8 production showed a similar trend (p<0.02; analysis of variance). H. influenzae bacteria that adhered to H292 cells were equally distributed over persisting and nonpersisting isolates and induced IL-6 and IL-8 levels similar to their nonadhering counterparts. The difference between persisting and nonpersisting H. influenzae was not due to cytotoxic, antimetabolic or antiproliferative effects on H292 cells. Furthermore, pre-exposure of cells to persisting and nonpersisting isolates did not block subsequent IL-1beta-induced IL-6 production. We conclude that persisting clinical isolates induce less interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 in H292 cells than nonpersisting isolates, probably because they excrete lower amounts of a stimulus of H292 cells. The stimulus is heat stable, hydrophilic and nonproteinous and probably not lipopolysaccharide alone. These findings support the suggestion that some strains of Haemophilus influenzae that persist in the airways of patients, may do so because they induce only a weak inflammatory response.