Abstract
Immune responses are essential for the protection of the host against external dangers or infections and are normally efficient in the clearance of invading microbes. However, some intracellular pathogens have developed strategies to replicate and survive within host cells resulting in latent infection associated with strong inflammation. This excessive response can cause cell and tissue damage and lead to the release of the intracellular content, in particular the nucleotide pool, into the extracellular space. Over the last decade, new studies have implicated metabolites from the purinergic pathway in shaping the host immune response against intracellular pathogens and proved their importance in the outcome of the infection. This review aims to summarize how the immune system employs the purinergic system either to fight the pathogen, or to control collateral tissue damage. This will be achieved by focusing on the macrophage response against two intracellular pathogens, the human etiologic agent of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii.
Introduction
Purinergic nucleotides are largely known for their role as the primary energy currency of cells. However, it has been demonstrated that these nucleotides are also implicated in the modulation of the immune response (Burnstock and Boeynaems, ; Cekic and Linden, ). During inflammation, infection or after tissue injury, purines can be released into the extracellular space either passively by dying or damaged cells, or actively via pannexin or connexin hemichannels from immune cells (Beyer and Steinberg, ; Bao et al., ; Pelegrin and Surprenant, ; Figure 1). Extracellular ATP (eATP) is the most studied purine for its capacity to modulate the immune response. Once in the extracellular environment, eATP is rapidly metabolized to adenosine diphosphate (eADP) and adenosine monophosphate (eAMP) by alkaline phosphatases, ectonucleotide pyrophosphatases/phosphodiesterases (ENPPs) or ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolases (ENTPDases) which includes the ectonucleoside triphosphate diphosphorylase 1, CD39 (Burnstock and Boeynaems, ). eAMP is then converted to adenosine by the ecto-5′-nucleotidase, CD73 (Burnstock and Boeynaems, ). Extracellular adenosine (eADO) is finally metabolized into extracellular inosine by the adenosine deaminase (ADA). In order to modulate the immune response, purine metabolites act through two families of purinergic receptors: P1 and P2 receptors (Burnstock, ). ATP binds to P2 receptors which are divided into ionotropic P2X and metabotropic P2Y subtypes (Ralevic and Burnstock, ). P1 receptors, which are also known as ADORAs receptors or A1, A2A, A2B, A3, preferentially recognize eADO (Burnstock and Boeynaems, ; Figure 1).
Figure 1
In the extracellular environment, ATP is recognized as a Damage Associated Molecular Pattern (DAMP). High concentrations of eATP alert the immune system and mediate pro-inflammatory effects. eATP induces granule release by neutrophils, T-cell activation, cytokine and chemokine secretion by macrophages, generation of reactive oxygen (ROS) or nitrogen species and dendritic cell maturation and migration (Bours et al.,
Here, we will discuss how members of this pathway can be employed by macrophages to combat intracellular pathogens or to dampen inflammation. By focusing on the response against two different pathogens: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) and Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), we will demonstrate the highly conserved mechanisms used by the purinergic pathway. Both pathogens cause major public health problems worldwide: M. tuberculosis is the human etiologic agent of tuberculosis (TB), while the apicomplexan parasite, T. gondii causes serious health problems in immunocompromised people and the developing fetus. These pathogens infect, respectively, one-third of the human population and have co-evolved with the human population for centuries (McLeod et al.,
During these infections, modulators are need to alert, stimulate, and regulate the immune system and nucleotides from the purinergic pathway could be one of them. In this context, these two intracellular pathogens are really good models to study the role of these purinergic mediators in the control of intracellular infections during acute phase of the disease. Here, we will discuss the recent advances in the purinergic pathway field by comparing the macrophage response against M. tuberculosis and T. gondii.
eATP and P2X7 receptor: the killer side of the force
Cells from the macrophage/monocyte lineage represent one of first lines of defense against infection, and are the main cell targets for invasion by M. tuberculosis or T. gondii. Due to their important contribution to pathogen clearance, a number of studies have been focused on the role played by the purinergic pathway in influencing macrophage killing function. In 1994, Molloy et al. provided the first evidence for the capacity of 1 mM eATP to induce mycobacterial killing by human monocytes (Molloy et al.,
Figure 2

Action of eATP on macrophage response against T. gondii and M. tuberculosis. High concentrations of eATP (3–5 mM) induce the activation of P2X7R on either T. gondii- or M. tuberculois- infected macrophages and induce the killing of the pathogen in both cases. The killing of the parasite is dependent on ROS generation however the mycobactericidal activity is due to the activation of the phophalipase D (PLD). In both cases, high levels of eATP induce macrophage apoptosis. By contrast, low levels of eATP (100 μM) are rapidly converted to eAMP and eADO via CD39 and CD73. eAMP and eADO bind the adenosine receptor A2A leading to a switch in macrophage polarization toward a M2-like profile in M. tuberculosis-infected macrophages. Low levels of ATP control T. gondii infection via pyrimidinergic receptor activation without affecting the macrophage death or the production of NO or ROS. UTP or UDP stimulations induce premature egress of tachyzoites through P2Y receptors.
The role of P2X7R in the control of infection is also suggested by studies focusing on P2X7R polymorphisms in the human population. The P2X7R gene is highly polymorphic and different non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been described (Sluyter and Stokes,
The role of P2X7R in human diseases was clearly demonstrated but its implications in mouse models of infection are less well characterized. In an oral model of toxoplasmic ileitis with 10 cysts of ME49 strain, Miller et al. showed no differences in parasite loads between P2X7R knock-out (KO) mice and WT mice but animals deficient for the receptor exhibit higher degrees of intestinal pathology associated with elevated ileal concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines (Miller et al.,
In the TB infection mouse model, the susceptibility of the P2X7R deficient mice to the infection is critically dependent on the mycobacterial dose and strains used. An initial study indicated that P2X7R was not involved in the control of pulmonary TB in mice infected with a low dose of M. tuberculosis Erdman strain using the aerosol route (Myers et al.,
eATP: A role outside pathogen killing?
Dependently of the concentration, eATP may also play opposite roles in the outcome of the infection. Activation of the P2X7R with very high concentrations of ATP (3–5 mM) were clearly necessary to decrease the bacterial load or parasitic burden in vitro and these concentrations of ATP are determinant in tissue pathology in vivo. However, these high concentrations of ATP were shown to induce the apoptosis of either T. gondii-infected murine macrophages or M. tuberculosis-infected macrophages (Lees et al.,
The forgotten role of metabolites from eATP degradation
Over last decade, knock-out mouse models for enzymes involved in eATP degradation have been used to determine the role of the different purinergic nucleotides in the immune response against intracellular pathogens. CD39 is the first enzyme involved in ATP degradation, hydrolyzing eATP into eAMP (Figure 1). The role of this ectonucleotidase has been poorly explored in infectious diseases but a population of CD4+CD25+CD39+ T cells with regulatory properties were identified from blood of patients with active TB (Chiacchio et al.,
In contrast to CD39, the role of the ecto-5′-nucleotidase CD73 in the outcome of intracellular infections in vivo has been better characterized. CD73 is involved in the conversion of eAMP into eADO (Figure 1). CD73 is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked surface protein expressed by the majority of immune cells but is not highly expressed by macrophages (Antonioli et al.,
eADO is not the final metabolite of the purinergic pathway: it is then converted into its less functional metabolite eInosine by enzymes including adenosine-deaminase (ADA; Figure 1). During TB, eADA is present at a high concentration in the pleural liquid of infected patients (Dimakou et al.,
Summary
From parasitic to mycobacterial infections, this review underlines the very conserved and important role played by the purinergic pathway in the control of intracellular pathogens by the immune system. In this context, the ATP-mediated killing associated with activation of the P2X7R is necessary to avoid the replication of either T. gondii or M. tuberculosis in vitro and loss of function of the P2X7R in the human population by SNP in the P2X7R allele induces an higher susceptibility in the outcome of the two diseases. Adenosine generated via CD73 activity is also necessary to dampen the inflammation in acute models of both infections.
However, the action of the purinergic pathway should not solely be considered as the pro-inflammatory functions of eATP on one side, and the immunosuppressive properties of eADO (Cekic and Linden,
Statements
Author contributions
LP-J wrote the paper with input from LT and JLC. All authors revised the manuscript, and approved it for publication.
Acknowledgments
The present work was supported by the University of Liverpool. JLC is a lecturer at the University of Liverpool, UK; LT is a researcher at Institut Pasteur, France; and LP-J is a postdoctoral researcher on the JLC's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grant (BB/M023540/1) at the University of Liverpool, UK.
Conflict of interest
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.
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Summary
Keywords
purinergic agents, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Toxoplasma gondii, ATP, macrophages, innate immunity, nucleotides
Citation
Petit-Jentreau L, Tailleux L and Coombes JL (2017) Purinergic Signaling: A Common Path in the Macrophage Response against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Toxoplasma gondii. Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 7:347. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2017.00347
Received
19 June 2017
Accepted
21 July 2017
Published
07 August 2017
Volume
7 - 2017
Edited by
Özlem Yilmaz, Medical University of South Carolina, United States
Reviewed by
Ana Carolina Morandini, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, United States; Robson Coutinho-Silva, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Ali Abdul Sater, York University, Canada
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© 2017 Petit-Jentreau, Tailleux and Coombes.
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*Correspondence: Laetitia Petit-Jentreau jentreau@liverpool.ac.uk; laetitia.petit.jentreau@gmail.com
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