Differences in local immune cell landscape between Q fever and atherosclerotic abdominal aortic aneurysms identified by multiplex immunohistochemistry
Abstract
Background: Chronic Q fever is a zoonosis caused by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii which can manifest as infection of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Antibiotic therapy often fails, resulting in severe morbidity and high mortality. Whereas previous studies have focused on inflammatory processes in blood, the aim of this study was to investigate local inflammation in aortic tissue.
Methods: Multiplex immunohistochemistry was used to investigate local inflammation in Q fever AAAs compared to atherosclerotic AAAs in aorta tissue specimen. Two six-plex panels were used to study both the innate and adaptive immune system.
Results: Q fever AAAs and atherosclerotic AAAs contained similar numbers of CD68+ macrophages and CD3+ T cells. However, in Q fever AAAs the number of CD68+CD206+ M2 macrophages was increased, while expression of GM-CSF was decreased compared to atherosclerotic AAAs. Furthermore, Q fever AAAs showed an increase in both the number of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and CD3+CD8-FoxP3+ regulatory T cells. Lastly, Q fever AAAs did not contain any well-defined granulomas.
Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that despite the presence of pro-i is associated with an immune suppressed micro environment.
Funding: This work was supported by SCAN consortium: European Research Area - CardioVascualar Diseases (ERA-CVD) grant [JTC2017-044] and TTW-NWO open technology grant [STW-14716].
Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and uploaded to Dryad (http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bzkh189b4).Figure 3 - Source data 3; Figure 5 - Source data 5; Figure 6 - Source figure 6; Figure 7 - Source figure 7 contain numerical data used to generate the figures.
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Vascular Q fever inflammationDryad Digital Repository, doi:10.5061/dryad.bzkh189b4.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
European Research Area - Cardiovascular Diseases (JTC2017-044)
- Kimberley RG Cortenbach
TTW-NWO Open Technology (STW-14716)
- Alexander HJ Staal
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewing Editor
- Christina L Stallings, Washington University School of Medicine, United States
Ethics
Human subjects: The medical ethics committees of the institutions approved the study, in line with the principlesoutlined in the Declaration of Helsinki (Radboudumc: 2017-3196; Jeroen Bosch Hospital:2019.05.02.01).
Version history
- Received: July 26, 2021
- Preprint posted: August 28, 2021 (view preprint)
- Accepted: February 3, 2022
- Accepted Manuscript published: February 9, 2022 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: February 24, 2022 (version 2)
Copyright
© 2022, Cortenbach et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Further reading
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Background:
Adverse effects of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) have raised wide concerns. The association of PPIs with influenza is unexplored, while that with pneumonia or COVID-19 remains controversial. Our study aims to evaluate whether PPI use increases the risks of these respiratory infections.
Methods:
The current study included 160,923 eligible participants at baseline who completed questionnaires on medication use, which included PPI or histamine-2 receptor antagonist (H2RA), from the UK Biobank. Cox proportional hazards regression and propensity score-matching analyses were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results:
Comparisons with H2RA users were tested. PPI use was associated with increased risks of developing influenza (HR 1.32, 95% CI 1.12–1.56) and pneumonia (hazard ratio [HR] 1.42, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.26–1.59). In contrast, the risk of COVID-19 infection was not significant with regular PPI use (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.99–1.17), while the risks of severe COVID-19 (HR 1.19. 95% CI 1.11–1.27) and mortality (HR 1.37. 95% CI 1.29–1.46) were increased. However, when compared with H2RA users, PPI users were associated with a higher risk of influenza (HR 1.74, 95% CI 1.19–2.54), but the risks with pneumonia or COVID-19-related outcomes were not evident.
Conclusions:
PPI users are associated with increased risks of influenza, pneumonia, as well as COVID-19 severity and mortality compared to non-users, while the effects on pneumonia or COVID-19-related outcomes under PPI use were attenuated when compared to the use of H2RAs. Appropriate use of PPIs based on comprehensive evaluation is required.
Funding:
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82171698, 82170561, 81300279, 81741067, 82100238), the Program for High-level Foreign Expert Introduction of China (G2022030047L), the Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of Guangdong Province (2021B1515020003), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2022A1515012081), the Foreign Distinguished Teacher Program of Guangdong Science and Technology Department (KD0120220129), the Climbing Program of Introduced Talents and High-level Hospital Construction Project of Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (DFJH201923, DFJH201803, KJ012019099, KJ012021143, KY012021183), and in part by VA Clinical Merit and ASGE clinical research funds (FWL).
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