A bacterial network of T3SS effectors counteracts host pro-inflammatory responses and cell death to promote infection

Abstract Innate immune signalling and cell death pathways are highly interconnected processes involving receptor-interacting protein kinases (RIPKs) as mediators of potent anti-microbial responses. However, these processes are often antagonised by bacterial type III secretion system (T3SS) effectors, and the cellular mechanisms by which the host retaliates are not completely understood. Here, we demonstrate that during Citrobacter rodentium infection, murine macrophages and colonic epithelial cells exhibit RIPK1 kinase-dependent caspase-8 activation to counteract NleE effector-mediated suppression of pro-inflammatory signalling. While C. rodentium injects into the host cells a second effector, NleB, to block caspase-8 signalling, macrophages respond by triggering RIPK3-mediated necroptosis, whereupon a third T3SS effector, EspL, acts to inactivate necroptosis. We further show that NleB and EspL collaborate to suppress caspase-8 and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in macrophages. Our findings suggest that C. rodentium has evolved to express a complex network of effectors as an adaptation to the importance of cell death for anti-bacterial defence in the host-pathogen arms race.