Reduced Innate Immune Response to a Small Colony Variant Compared to Its Wild-Type Parent Strain.

small colony variants (SCVs) can survive within the host intracellular milieu and are associated with chronic relapsing infections. However, it is unknown whether host invasion rates and immune responses differ between SCVs and their wild-type counterparts. This study used a stable SCV (WCH-SK2) developed from a clinical isolate (WCH-SK2) in inflammation-relevant conditions. Intracellular infection rates as well as host immune responses to WCH-SK2 and WCH-SK2 infections were investigated. NuLi-1 cells were infected with either WCH-SK2 or WCH-SK2, and the intracellular infection rate was determined over time. mRNA expression of cells infected with each strain intra- and extra-cellularly was analyzed using a microfluidic qPCR array to generate an expression profile of thirty-nine genes involved in the host immune response. No difference was found in the intracellular infection rate between WCH-SK2 and WCH-SK2. Whereas, extracellular infection induced a robust pro-inflammatory response, intracellular infection elicited a modest response. Intracellular WCH-SK2 infection induced mRNA expression of , pro-inflammatory cytokines (, and ) and tissue remodeling factors (). In contrast, intracellular WCH-SK2 infection induced up regulation of only . Whereas, host intracellular infection rates of WCH-SK2 and WCH-SK2 were similar, WCH-SK2 intracellular infection induced a less widespread up regulation of pro-inflammatory and tissue remodeling factors in comparison to intracellular WCH-SK2 infection. These findings support the current view that SCVs are able to evade host immune detection to allow their own survival.