During acute
Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, the inflammatory response is essential for bacterial clearance. Neutrophil recruitment can be initiated following the assembly of an
inflammasome within sentinel macrophages, leading to activation of caspase-1, which in turn triggers macrophage pyroptosis and IL-1β/IL-18 maturation.
Inflammasome formation can be induced by a number of bacterial determinants, including
Type III secretion systems (T3SSs) or pore-forming toxins, or, alternatively, by
lipopolysaccharide (LPS) via caspase-11 activation. Surprisingly, previous studies indicated that a T3SS-induced
inflammasome increased pathogenicity in mouse models of P. aeruginosa
infection. Here, we investigated the immune reaction of mice infected with a T3SS-negative P. aeruginosa strain (IHMA879472). Virulence of this strain relies on ExlA, a secreted pore-forming toxin. IHMA879472 promoted massive neutrophil infiltration in infected lungs, owing to efficient priming of
toll-like receptors, and thus enhanced the expression of inflammatory
proteins including pro-IL-1β and TNF-α. However, mature-IL-1β and
IL-18 were undetectable in wild-type mice, suggesting that ExlA failed to effectively activate caspase-1. Nevertheless,
caspase-1/11 deficiency improved survival following
infection with IHMA879472, as previously described for T3SS+ bacteria. We conclude that the detrimental effect associated with the ExlA-induced
inflammasome is probably not due to hyperinflammation, rather it stems from another
inflammasome-dependent process.