Comprehensive proteomic analysis of autophagosomes derived from Leishmania-infected macrophages

Recently, autophagy has been implicated as a host defense mechanism against intracellular pathogens. On the other hand, certain intracellular pathogens such as Leishmania can manipulate the host’s autophagy to promote their survival. Our recent findings regarding the regulation of autophagy by Leishmania donovani indicate that this pathogen induces non-classical autophagy in infected macrophages, independent of regulation by the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1. This suggests the fine-tuning of autophagy to optimally promote parasite survival, possibly by the sequestration or modulation of specific autophagosome-associated proteins. To investigate how Leishmania potentially manipulates the composition of host-cell autophagosomes, we undertook a quantitative proteomic study of the human monocytic cell line THP-1 following infection with L. donovani. We used stable isotope labeling by amino acid in cell culture and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to compare expression profiles between autophagosomes isolated from THP-1 cells infected with L. donovani or treated with known autophagy inducers. Selected proteomic results were validated by Western blotting. In this study, we showed that L. donovani modulates the composition of macrophage autophagosomes during infection when compared to autophagosomes induced by either rapamycin (selective autophagy) or starvation (non-selective autophagy). Among 1787 proteins detected in Leishmania-induced autophagosomes, 146 were significantly modulated compared to the proteome of rapamycin-induced autophagosomes, while 57 were significantly modulated compared to starvation-induced autophagosomes. Strikingly, 23 Leishmania proteins were also detected in the proteome of Leishmania-induced autophagosomes. Together, our data provide the first comprehensive insight into the proteome dynamics of host autophagosomes in response to Leishmania infection and demonstrate the complex relations between the host and pathogen at the molecular level. A comprehensive analysis of the Leishmania-induced autophagosome proteome will be instrumental in the advancement of understanding leishmaniasis.