Modulation of nasopharyngeal innate defenses by viral coinfection predisposes individuals to experimental pneumococcal carriage

Glennie, S; Gritzfeld, J F; Pennington, S H; Garner-Jones, M; Coombes, N; Hopkins, M J; Vadesilho, C F; Miyaji, E N; Wang, D; Wright, A D; Collins, A M; Gordon, S B; Ferreira, D M

have not found expression of the FH gene to be upregulated after virus infection. 29 It is therefore likely that increased FH levels at the mucosa were not sourced by increased local expression but by leakage from blood stream into the nasal mucosa because of inflammation caused by pneumococcus virus coinfection. 12 We investigated the effect of nasal wash containing FH on pneumococcal adherence to noninflamed and inflamed epithelium. We observed that treatment of pneumococcus with nasal wash containing several innate factors, including FH, promoted increased epithelial attachment and internalization. This effect was more pronounced when bacteria were treated with purified human FH or the epithelium was inflamed.