Integrity of the Actin Cytoskeleton of Host Macrophages is Necessary for Mycobacterial Entry

Macrophages are the primary hosts for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), an intracellular pathogen, and the causative organism of tuberculosis (TB) in humans. While M. tb has the ability to enter and survive in host macrophages, the precise mechanism of its internalization, and factors that control this essential process are poorly defined. We have previously demonstrated that perturbations in levels of cholesterol and sphingolipids in macrophages lead to significant reduction in the entry of Mycobacterium smegmatis (M. smegmatis), a surrogate model for mycobacterial internalization, signifying a role for these plasma membrane lipids in interactions at the host-pathogen interface. In this work, we investigated the role of the host actin cytoskeleton, a critical protein framework underlying the plasma membrane, in the entry of M. smegmatis into human macrophages. Our results show that cytochalasin D mediated destabilization of the actin cytoskeleton of host macrophages results in a dose-dependent reduction in the entry of mycobacteria. Notably, the internalization of Escherichia coli remained invariant upon actin destabilization of host cells, implying a specific involvement of the actin cytoskeleton in mycobacterial infection. By monitoring the F-actin content of macrophages utilizing a quantitative confocal microscopy-based technique, we observed a close correlation between the entry of mycobacteria into host macrophages with cellular F-actin content. Our results constitute the first quantitative analysis of the role of the actin cytoskeleton of human macrophages in the entry of mycobacteria, and highlight actin-mediated mycobacterial entry as a potential target for future anti-TB therapeutics.