Effects of Y. pestis on Macrophages

Abstract

As the cellular component of innate immunity, macrophages directly challenge invading pathogens by secreting pro-inflammatory cytokines and initiating a protective inflammatory response. However, bacterial pathogens have evolved sophisticated strategies for invading or counteracting the host defenses. The survival and replication of Yersinia pestis in macrophages is likely to be of great importance at the early stage of infection. That macrophages can serve as permissive sites for bacterial replication is supported by both in vivo and in vitro experiments. Thus, the study of the interaction between Y. pestis and macrophages will increase our understanding of how Yersinia subverts the host immune response. Here I describe the isolation and culture of mice macrophages, the infection of macrophages with Y. pestis, and the detection of infected macrophage functions. While I focus on the interactions between Y. pestis and macrophages, the describe methods, with some adaptations, may be suitable for analyzing other bacterial species.