Cytosolic Sensing of Intracellular Staphylococcus aureus by Mast Cells Elicits a Type I IFN Response That Enhances Cell-Autonomous Immunity

Abstract

Strategically located at mucosal sites, mast cells are instrumental in sensing invading pathogens and modulating the quality of the ensuing immune responses depending on the nature of the infecting microbe. It is believed that mast cells produce type I IFN (IFN-I) in response to viruses, but not to bacterial infections, because of the incapacity of bacterial pathogens to internalize within mast cells, where signaling cascades leading to IFN-I production are generated. However, we have previously reported that, in contrast with other bacterial pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus can internalize into mast cells and therefore could trigger a unique response. In this study, we have investigated the molecular cross-talk between internalized S. aureus and the human mast cells HMC-1 using a dual RNA sequencing approach. We found that a proportion of internalized S. aureus underwent profound transcriptional reprogramming within HMC-1 cells to adapt to the nutrients and stress encountered in the intracellular environment and remained viable. HMC-1 cells, in turn, recognized intracellular S. aureus via cGMP-AMP synthase-STING-TANK-binding kinase 1 signaling pathway, leading to the production of IFN-I. Bacterial internalization and viability were crucial for IFN-I induction because inhibition of S. aureus internalization or infection with heat-killed bacteria completely prevented the production of IFN-I by HMC-1 cells. Feeding back in an autocrine manner in S. aureus-harboring HMC-1 cells and in a paracrine manner in noninfected neighboring HMC-1 cells, IFN-I promoted a cell-autonomous antimicrobial state by inducing the transcription of IFN-I-stimulated genes. This study provides unprecedented evidence of the capacity of mast cells to produce IFN-I in response to a bacterial pathogen.