Host Innate Immune Responses to Acinetobacter baumannii Infection

TL;DR

This paper reviews how the body's innate immune system responds to Acinetobacter baumannii infection and highlights the need for new treatments.

Contribution

The paper identifies gaps in understanding host immune responses to A. baumannii and emphasizes the need for novel therapeutic targets.

Findings

A. baumannii triggers inflammatory cytokine and chemokine responses.

Innate immune effectors like neutrophils and macrophages are recruited to fight the infection.

Current knowledge is insufficient for developing effective vaccines and immunotherapeutics.

Abstract

Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as a major threat to global public health and is one of the key human pathogens in healthcare (nosocomial and community-acquired)-associated infections. Moreover, A. baumannii rapidly develops resistance to multiple antibiotics and is now globally regarded as a serious multidrug resistant pathogen. There is an urgent need to develop novel vaccines and immunotherapeutics as alternatives to antibiotics for clinical management of A. baumannii infection. However, our knowledge of host immune responses to A. baumannii infection and the identification of novel therapeutic targets are significantly lacking. This review highlights the recent advances and critical gaps in our understanding how A. baumannii interacts with the host innate pattern-recognition receptors, induces a cascade of inflammatory cytokine and chemokine responses, and recruits innate immune effectors (such as neutrophils and macrophages) to the site of infection for effective control of the infection. Such knowledge will facilitate the identification of new targets for the design and development of effective therapeutics and vaccines to fight this emerging threat.