New research has determined how the human airway protects itself from infection from the bacteria that are inhaled with every breath. The newly discovered mechanism is described in research published today in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI). When bacteria are inhaled, exosomes are immediately secreted from cells and directly attack the bacteria and also shuttle protective antimicrobial proteins from the front of the nose to the back along the airway, protecting other cells against the bacteria before it gets too far into the body.
According to the research team from Massachusetts Eye and Ear, these findings shed new light on our immune systems and also pave the way for drug delivery techniques to be developed that harness this natural transportation process from one group of cells to another.
"Similar to kicking a hornets nest, the nose releases billions of exosomes into the mucus at the first sign bacteria, killing the bacteria and arming cells throughout the airway with a natural, potent defense," said senior author Benjamin Bleier, M.D. "It's almost like this swarm of exosomes vaccinates cells further down the airway against a microbe before they even have a chance to see it."
The JACI study was motivated by a perplexing previous finding from Dr. Bleier's lab a few years ago. In studies of sinus inflammation, researchers found that proteins in the cells of the nasal cavity were also present in patients' nasal mucus. The team wanted to know why and how these proteins were moving from the cells into the nasal mucus, hypothesizing that exosomes had something to do with that process.
The new findings described in the JACI study shed light on this process. When cells at the front of the nose detect a bacterial molecule, they trigger a receptor called TLR4, which stimulates exosome release. When that happens, an innate immune response occurs within five minutes. First, it doubles the number of exosomes that are released into the nose. Second, within those exosomes, a protective enzyme, nitric oxide synthase, also doubles in amount. As a well-known antimicrobial molecule, nitric oxide potently arms each exosome to defend against bacteria.
In their experiments described in the JACI report, Dr. Bleier's team sampled patients' mucus and grew their own cells in culture. They then simulated an exposure to bacteria and measured both the number and composition of the released exosomes. They found a doubling of both the number of exosomes and of antibacterial molecules after stimulation. The team then confirmed this finding in live patients and further showed that these stimulated exosomes were as effective as antibiotics at killing the bacteria. Finally, the team showed that the exosomes were rapidly taken up by other epithelial cells, where they were able to "donate" their antimicrobial molecules.
Along with this new understanding of the innate immune system, the authors suggest that their findings may have implications for new methods of delivering drugs through the airway to be developed. More specifically, as natural transporters, exosomes could be used to transfer inhaled packets of therapeutics to cells along the upper airway and possibly even into the lower airways and lungs.
Image: Inhaling bacteria activates a new mechanism of the immune system. Image courtesy of Massachusetts Eye and Ear.