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Infection and Immunity, May 2002, p. 2454-2462, Vol. 70, No. 5
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.5.2454-2462.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Lipooligosaccharide and Polysaccharide Capsule: Virulence Factors of Neisseria meningitidis That Determine Meningococcal Interaction with Human Dendritic Cells

Alexandra Unkmeir,¹ Ulrike Kämmerer,² Anne Stade,¹ Claudia Hübner,¹ Sabine Haller,¹ Annette Kolb-Mäurer,^1,3 Matthias Frosch,^1* and Guido Dietrich^1,

Institut für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie, Universität Würzburg,¹ Universitätsklinik für Frauenheilkunde,² Dermatologische Universitätsklinik, 97080 Würzburg, Germany³

Received 8 November 2001/ Returned for modification 10 December 2001/ Accepted 22 January 2002

In this work we analyzed the roles of meningococcal lipooligosaccharide (LOS) and capsule expression in the interaction of Neisseria meningitidis with human dendritic cells (DC). Infection of DC with serogroup B wild-type meningococci induced a strong burst of the proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and IL-8. In contrast, a serogroup B mutant strain lacking LOS expression barely led to cytokine induction, demonstrating that meningococcal LOS is the main mediator of the proinflammatory response in human DC. Sialylation of meningococcal LOS did not influence cytokine secretion by DC. However, we found the phagocytosis of N. meningitidis by human DC to be inhibited by LOS sialylation. In addition, the expression of the meningococcal serogroup A, B, and C capsules dramatically reduced DC adherence of N. meningitidis and phagocytosis to some extent. Hence, LOS sialylation and capsule expression are independent mechanisms protecting N. meningitidis from the phagocytic activity of human DC.

Editor: J. D. Clements

Present address: Berna Biotech AG, Bacterial Vaccine Research, 3018 Berne, Switzerland.

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