RNase 7 but not psoriasin nor sPLA2-IIA associates with Mycobacterium tuberculosis during airway epithelial cell infection.

Tuberculosis is a disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Innate immunity is the first line of defense against Mtb and malfunctions in any of its components are associated with the susceptibility to the disease. Epithelial products such as host defense peptides (HDPs) are the first molecules produced to counteract the infection. Although a wide variety of HDPs are produced by epithelial cells only a few of them have been studied during Mtb infection. Here, we assessed the expression and production of the HDPs psoriasin, secreted phospholipases A2 (sPLA2-IIA) and Ribonuclease (RNase) 7 in airway epithelial cells (NCI-H292), type II pneumocytes (A549 cells) and monocyte-derived macrophages from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and from the human cell line THP1 after Mtb in vitro infection. Results show that psoriasin and sPLA2-IIA were not induced by Mtb in any of the evaluated cells, while RNase 7 was overexpressed in infected airway epithelial cells. Intracellular analysis by flow cytometry demonstrated that the highest levels of RNase 7 were observed 6 h post-infection and the induction was dependent on direct interaction between airway epithelial cells and Mtb. In addition, analysis by electron microscopy showed that RNase 7 was capable of attaching to the cell wall of intracellular mycobacteria. Our studies suggest that the induction of RNase 7 in response to Mtb could have a role in anti-mycobacterial immunity, which needs to be studied as an innate immune mechanism.