Introduction
Respiratory diseases associated with cigarette smoke (CS) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The most prominent respiratory disease caused by CS is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and it is most likely that it will constitute the fourth most common cause of death by the year 2030 [
1]. A hallmark of COPD is chronic inflammation of the lung, leading to tissue destruction. The ongoing tissue destruction leads to emphysema and loss of pulmonary function [
2,
3].
Stable COPD patients are frequently colonized by bacterial pathogens, such as nontypeable
H. influaenzae,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and
S. pneumoniae [
2,
4,
5]. Moreover, recurrent infections of the respiratory tract and chronic bronchitis are common in COPD [
2-
5]. It is suggested that acute bacterial lung infections as well as chronic bacterial colonization of the lung contribute to the progression of COPD by amplifying inflammation which further promotes lung damage and impacts innate lung defence [
2]. In addition, pathogenic bacteria cause direct damage to the epithelial surfaces of the lung and thereby contribute to impaired mucociliary clearance, elevated mucus secretion and subsequent mucus retention, disrupted ciliary activity, and finally airflow obstruction [
3,
6,
7].
There is evidence that exacerbations are provoked by the acquisition of new bacterial strains from the environment by the host [
2,
3]. It is hypothesized that newly-acquired bacterial pathogens trigger infections of the lung and evoke harmful inflammatory responses, contributing to clinical deterioration of the patient during exacerbation [
2,
3,
8]. Among the most frequent bacterial pathogens isolated from patients suffering from exacerbation are
H. influenzae (20–30% of patients) and
S. pneumoniae (10–15% of patients) [
2].
Several studies have shown that CS has an impact on the immune system of the respiratory tract, even in healthy individuals [
9,
10]. Thus, smoking and passive smoking are associated with disordered microbial communities of the upper airways, impairment of commensal airway flora, and an increased risk of bacterial infections in healthy individuals [
4,
11-
14]. Brook and Goober demonstrated that the nasopharyngeal flora of smokers contains fewer aerobic and anaerobic organisms with interfering capabilities and more potential pathogens, such as
H. influenzae and
S. pneumoniae, compared with those of non-smokers [
12]. It is also suggested that smoking enhances colonization of the oral cavity with periodontal pathogens, affects the sub-gingival microflora in periodontitis, and is a risk factor for periodontal disease [
15,
16]. Moreover, cigarette smoking increases the risk of community-acquired pneumonia [
17,
18] and is a strong independent risk factor for invasive pneumococcal disease among immunocompetent, non-elderly adults [
19]. Exposure to passive smoke favors bacterial colonization and infection in infants [
12-
14,
20]. Greenberg
et al. reported that children of smoking parents have a significantly higher rate of
S. pneumoniae carriage than children of non-smokers [
14]. Exposure to passive smoke also correlates with a significantly increased risk of infants developing infections of the lower respiratory tract in the first two years of life [
20].
It was the aim of the present study to investigate whether chronic exposure to CS promotes nasopharyngeal colonization with the leading gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial lung pathogens
H. influenzae and
S. pneumoniae by combining a clinically relevant murine model of colonization of the upper respiratory tract with a model of chronic CS exposure [
21]. It was further investigated whether CS-promoted colonization of the upper-respiratory tract results in increased inflammation and bacterial translocation into the lung.
Discussion
We combined a murine model of colonization of the upper respiratory tract with a model of COPD to investigate whether CS-induced inflammation promotes acquisition of bacterial lung pathogens and whether colonizing of the upper airways contributes to increased inflammation in the respiratory tract. We focused on NTHi as this bacterium frequently colonizes lungs of COPD patients and is linked to exacerbations of COPD [
2,
5] and on
S. pneumoniae as colonization of the nasal space by pneumococci occasionally causes pneumonia and invasive disease, especially in subjects exposed to CS or passive smoke [
17-
19]. Our data show that chronic exposure to CS has an impact on the ability of the host to contain bacterial colonization of the upper airways with bacterial pathogens and that CS-induced colonization is accompanied by increased inflammation of the respiratory tract and susceptibility of the host to pathogens migrating into the lung.
It is hypothesized that exacerbations in COPD are provoked by bacterial strains newly acquired from the environment [
2,
3]. In line with this hypothesis, our study proves that COPD-like inflammation promotes the acquisition of typical COPD pathogens, such as NTHi, into the upper airways. Increased colonization of the upper airways of CS-exposed mice with NTHi is also associated with an enhanced inflammation in the respiratory tract characterized by an increased release of chemokines and influx of immune cells into the upper airways and into the lung. Thus, our data suggest that CS promotes the acquisition and colonization of the upper airways with respiratory pathogens and that these newly- acquired pathogens contribute to the progression of COPD by enhancing and perpetuating lung inflammation [
2,
3,
8].
For many bacterial pathogens colonization of the upper airways is often a first step in the process leading to infectious diseases [
22,
23]. Frequent acquisition of bacterial pathogens in the upper airways may also promote infectious lung diseases and invasive diseases in individuals exposed to mainstream or passive smoke. Our data indicate that the increased risk of smokers for community-acquired pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease [
17-
19] and the increased risk of infants exposed to passive smoke of developing infections of the lower respiratory tract [
20] are a direct consequence of CS-induced acquisition of bacterial pathogens into the upper airways. Our results are further in line with findings that children of smoking parents have a significantly higher rate of
S. pneumoniae carriage than those of non-smokers [
14].
Several studies have examined how CS affects immune mechanisms at the mucosal surfaces of the respiratory tract [
9,
27,
31-
36]. In vitro studies have shown that exposure of respiratory epithelial cells to CS results in the suppression of cellular signaling cascades (e.g. AP-1- and NF-κB-dependent signaling cascades) that are of key importance in the activation of innate immune mechanisms in the case of microbial infections [
31,
35,
36]. Thus, in vitro, CS exposure results in a reduced expression and release of inflammatory mediators and antimicrobial peptides by respiratory epithelial cells infected with bacterial pathogens [
9,
27,
31,
35,
36]. Moreover, we have previously shown that smokers with community- acquired pneumonia have reduced levels of antimicrobial peptides in their sputum and pharyngeal washings [
9]. In this study, we found that chronic CS exposure resulted in reduced expression levels of the antimicrobial peptide mBD-1 in the upper airways of NTHi-colonized mice, even though the colonization levels were increased in CS-exposed mice, as compared to air-exposed mice. It has been shown before that mBD-1 deficient mice are more susceptible to
H. influenzae lung infection [
30]. Furthermore, it has been shown that CS increases adhesion of bacteria to epithelial cells [
37-
40]. Grigg et al. showed, for instance, that CS extract stimulates platelet-activating factor receptor- dependent adhesion of
S. pneumonaie to respiratory epithelial cells [
39]. Thus, the suppression of innate immune functions of respiratory epithelial cells, including the expression of epithelial antimicrobial peptides as well as increased bacterial adherence to epithelial cells, are potential mechanisms responsible for the increased levels of colonization observed in mice chronically exposed to CS.
Studies have also shown that CS impairs the response of immune cells such as alveolar macrophages and neutrophils to bacterial pathogens, which results in a deregulated release of inflammatory mediators and impaired phagocytic activity [
41-
44]. Alveolar macrophages from ex-smokers with COPD, for instance, showed a reduced expression of inflammatory mediators (e.g. TNF-α) in response to antigens of
H. influaenzae, compared to macrophages obtained from ex-smokers without COPD and non-smokers [
41]. Moreover, ex vivo studies with alveolar macrophages obtained from CS-exposed mice showed that CS exposure enhances the release of the chemokines IL-1α and MCP-1 and inhibits the release of TNF-α by alveolar macrophages stimulated with NTHi [
42,
43]. Berenson et al. showed that the phagocytosis of NTHi is impaired in alveolar macrophages obtained from donors with COPD, as compared to that from donors without COPD [
45]. Taylor et al. found that monocyte-derived macrophages from COPD patients showed reduced phagocytic responses to
H. influenza and
S. pneumoniae, compared with smokers and non-smokers, which was not observed by Berenson et al. [
46]. Exposure to CS extract also resulted in a reduced uptake of NTHi by murine and human cell line-derived macrophages [
44]. Exposure to CS extracts also reduced the complement-mediated phagocytosis of
S. pneumoniae by alveolar macrophages ex vivo [
33] and the phagocytosis of
E. coli by human neutrophils [
34]. In our model, chronic exposure to CS did not result in a defect in the recruitment of phagocytes into the upper airways in response to colonizing bacteria. Chronic CS exposure resulted in increased numbers of neutrophil and macrophages in the upper airways of mice colonized with NTHi and
S. pneumoniae, which was associated with increased levels of chemokines in upper airway lavages. However, the phagocytosis activity of whole blood granulocytes and monocytes was inhibited in CS-exposed mice. This was a surprising and not suspected finding which might have impact on extra pulmonal research on tobacco smoke, too. Thus, it is conceivable that impaired phagocytosis of NTHi and
S. pneumoniae by neutrophils and macrophages is another potential cause of the increased colonization levels in the upper airways of CS-exposed mice.
In summary, our data indicate that continuous exposure to CS opens a niche for typical COPD pathogens in the upper airways, which results in the acquisition of bacterial pathogens. Our data suggest that bacterial pathogens efficiently colonizing the mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract contribute to increased lung colonization and are a cause of pulmonary inflammation. Frequent acquisition of bacterial pathogens into the upper airways may also promote pneumonia and invasive diseases in individuals exposed to mainstream or passive smoke. Our model system provides a tool for future mechanistic studies to examine mechanisms and potential therapeutic interventions regarding bacterial colonization and COPD exacerbations.
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Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
MV, CB: designed the study, collected data, analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript. AH, AK, BW, CH: collected data. TT, MB: analyzed data, wrote the manuscript. RB: designed the study, analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.