Ferroptotic stress promotes macrophages against intracellular bacteria

Rational: Intracellular bacterial survival is a major factor causing chronic or recurrent infection, leading to the failure of both host defense and/or antibiotic treatment. However, the elimination of intracellular bacteria is challenging as they are protected from antibiotics and host immune attack. Recent studies have indicated that iron helps macrophages against intracellular bacteria, contradictory to traditional “nutritional immunity”, in which iron is considered a key nutrient for bacterial survival in host cells. However, how iron facilitates intracellular bacterial death has not been fully clarified. In this study, we found that ferroptotic stress can help macrophages suppress intracellular bacteria by reversing the importation of ferrous iron into bacterial vacuoles via ferroportin and thereby inducing in situ ferroptosis-like bacterial death. Methods: A macrophage model of bacterial invasion was established to monitor dynamic changes in ferroptotic hallmarks, including ferrous iron and lipid peroxidation. Ferroptosis inducers and inhibitors were added to the model to evaluate the relationship between ferroptotic stress and intracellular bacterial survival. We then determined the spatiotemporal distributions of ferroportin, ferrous iron, and lipid peroxidation in macrophages and intracellular bacteria. A bacterial infection mouse model was established to evaluate the therapeutic effects of drugs that regulate ferroptotic stress. Results: Ferrous iron and lipid peroxidation increased sharply in the early stage of bacterial infection in the macrophages, then decreased to normal levels in the late stage of infection. The addition of ferroptosis inducers (ras-selective lethal small molecule 3, sulfasalazine, and acetaminophen) in macrophages promoted intracellular bacterial suppression. Further studies revealed that ferrous iron could be delivered to the intracellular bacterial compartment via inward ferroportin transportation, where ferrous iron induced ferroptosis-like death of bacteria. In addition, ferroptotic stress declined to normal levels in the late stage of infection by regulating iron-related pathways in the macrophages. Importantly, we found that enhancing ferroptotic stress with a ferroptosis inducer (sulfasalazine) successfully suppressed bacteria in the mouse infection models. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the spatiotemporal response to ferroptosis stress is an efficient pathway for macrophage defense against bacterial invasion, and targeting ferroptosis may achieve therapeutic targets for infectious diseases challenged by intracellular pathogens.