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Extracellular pattern recognition molecules in health and diseases

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 12, pages 255–257 (2015)Cite this article

Pentraxins are a superfamily of evolutionarily conserved PRMs that can be divided into short and long pentraxins on a structural basis. Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is the first identified member of the long pentraxin subfamily. It can be induced in somatic and immune cells following the stimulation of pro-inflammatory signals and the engagement of TLRs.9 It has been suggested that PTX3 is a multifunctional extracellular PRM involved in innate immunity, inflammation, matrix deposition and female fertility.10,11 Urinary tract infections (UTIs) remain a common and quite costly medical problem and are primarily caused by uropathogenic strains of Escherichia coli (UPEC).12 The role of the innate immune system in UTIs remains unclear. In a recent issue of Immunity, Jaillon et al.13 explored the involvement of the soluble PRM PTX3 in UTIs. They found that in UPEC-infected mice, the expression of PTX3 was significantly elevated in the blood and in the urinary organs such as the bladder and kidneys. PTX3-deficient mice were revealed to be much more susceptible to UTIs and displayed an increased bacterial burden in bladders and kidneys, as well as significant body weight loss. Thus, PTX3 is crucial for the host defense against UPEC infection.

Next, the authors investigated how PTX3 protected the host from UPEC infection. They found that PTX3 bound to the surface of E. coli and served as opsonins to promote phagocytosis and phagosome maturation in human and mouse neutrophils. Opsonization of UPEC by PTX3 dramatically increased phagocytosis by neutrophils in vitro. Then, the authors sought to explore the cellular source and signaling pathway responsible for PTX3 production during UTIs. PTX3 was found to be primarily produced by infiltrating leukocytes and epithelial cells in the urinary tract through the TLR4–MyD88 axis.

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  1. National Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology & Institute of Immunology, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China

    Peng Zhang, Xingguang Liu & Xuetao Cao

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Zhang, P., Liu, X. & Cao, X. Extracellular pattern recognition molecules in health and diseases. Cell Mol Immunol 12, 255–257 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2014.81

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