Michal Caspi Tal, Paige S Hansen, Haley A Ogasawara, Qingying Feng, Regan F Volk, Brandon Lee, Sara E Casebeer, Grace S Blacker, Maia Shoham, Sarah D Galloway, Anne L Sapiro, Beth Hayes, Laughing Bear Torrez Dulgeroff, Tal Raveh, Venkata Raveendra Pothineni, Hari-Hara Sk Potula, Jayakumar Rajadas, Effie E Bastounis, Seemay Chou, William H Robinson, Jenifer Coburn, Irving L Weissman, Balyn W Zaro
Innate immunity, the first line of defense against pathogens, relies on efficient elimination of invading agents by phagocytes. In the co-evolution of host and pathogen, pathogens developed mechanisms to dampen and evade phagocytic clearance. Here, we report that bacterial pathogens can evade clearance by macrophages through mimicry at the mammalian anti-phagocytic "don't eat me" signaling axis between CD47 (ligand) and SIRPα (receptor). We identified a protein, P66, on the surface of Borrelia burgdorferi that, like CD47, is necessary and sufficient to bind the macrophage receptor SIRPα...
April 30, 2024: bioRxiv