Biological sex influences susceptibility to Acinetobacter baumannii pneumonia in mice

• DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.132223
• Publication Date: 2020-03-19T16:01:35Z
• Authors: Sílvia Pires; Adeline Peignier; Jeremy Seto; Davida S. Smyth; Dane Parker
• Keywords: Acinetobacter baumannii; Alveolar macrophage

Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) is an extremely versatile multidrug-resistant pathogen with a very high mortality rate; therefore, it has become crucial to understand the host response during its infection. Given importance of mice for modeling infection and their role in preclinical drug development, equal emphasis should be placed on use both sexes. Through our studies using murine model acute pneumonia A. baumannii, we observed that female were more susceptible Likewise, treatment male estradiol increased susceptibility Analysis airway compartment revealed enhanced inflammation reduced neutrophil alveolar macrophage numbers compared mice. Depletion either neutrophils or macrophages was important bacterial clearance; however, depletion further exacerbated because severe alterations metabolic homeostasis. Our data highlight sexes when assessing immune pathways.