HLA‐B27 modulates intracellular survival of Salmonella enteritidis in human monocytic cells

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Abstract
Human major histocompatibility complex class I allele HLA‐B27 is associated with a group of diseases called spondyloarthropathies. In reactive arthritis (ReA), the disease is triggered by certain infections, e.g. gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella. The host/microbe interaction is abnormal in susceptible individuals leading to inefficient elimination of arthritis‐triggering bacteria, fragments of them, or both, after the initial infection. Using transfected human monocytic U937 cell lines, we demonstrate that the expression of the HLA‐B27 antigen does not influence the uptake of S. enteritidis into U937 cells in vitro. Interestingly, HLA‐B27 remarkably impairs the elimination of S. enteritidis within the HLA‐B27 transfected U937 cells. The impaired elimination of ReA‐triggering microbes by HLA‐B27+ monocytes may offer an explanation for the persistence of ReA‐triggering microbes in susceptible HLA‐B27+ individuals. This modulation of the host/microbe interaction by HLA‐B27 may have an important role in the pathogenesis of ReA.