Mycobacterial granuloma formation involves significant stromal remodeling including the growth of leaky, granuloma-associated vasculature. These permeable blood vessels aid mycobacterial growth, as antiangiogenic or vascular normalizing therapies are beneficial host-directed therapies in preclinical models of tuberculosis across host-mycobacterial pairings. Using the zebrafish-Mycobacterium marinum infection model, we demonstrate that vascular normalization by inhibition of vascular endothelial protein tyrosine phosphatase (VE-PTP) decreases granuloma hypoxia, the opposite effect of hypoxia-inducing antiangiogenic therapy. Inhibition of VE-PTP decreased neutrophil recruitment to granulomas in adult and larval zebrafish, and decreased the proportion of neutrophils that extravasated distal to granulomas. Furthermore, VE-PTP inhibition increased the accumulation of T cells at M. marinum granulomas. Our study provides evidence that, similar to the effect in solid tumors, vascular normalization during mycobacterial infection increases the T cell:neutrophil ratio in lesions which may be correlates of protective immunity.
Tannerella forsythia is strongly implicated in the development of periodontitis, an inflammatory disease that destroys the bone and soft tissues supporting the tooth. To date, the knowledge of the virulence attributes of T. forsythia species has mainly come from studies with a laboratory adapted strain (ATCC 43037). In this study, we focused on two T. forsythia clinical isolates, UB4 and UB20, in relation to their ability to activate macrophages. We found that these clinical isolates differentially induced proinflammatory cytokine expression in macrophages. Prominently, the expression of the chemokine protein IP-10 (CXCL10) was highly induced by UB20 as compared to UB4 and the laboratory strain ATCC 43037. Our study focused on the lipopolysaccharide component (LPS) of these strains and found that UB20 expressed a smooth-type LPS, unlike UB4 and ATCC 43037 each of which expressed a rough-type LPS. The LPS from UB20, via activation of TLR4, was found to be a highly potent inducer of IP-10 expression via signaling through STAT1 (signal transducer and activator of transcription-1). These data suggest that pathogenicity of T. forsythia species could be strain dependent and the LPS heterogeneity associated with the clinical strains might be responsible for their pathogenic potential and severity of periodontitis.