美国德克萨斯大学西南医学中心Michael U. Shiloh研究团队取得最新成果。他们发现结核分枝杆菌（Mtb）硫脂1（SL-1）激活伤害感受神经元并诱导咳嗽。相关论文于2020年3月5日发表于《细胞》杂志上。

他们表示Mtb有机提取物在体外激活伤害感受神经元，并鉴定了伤害感受分子-Mtb糖脂SL-1。他们从缺乏SL-1合成的突变体中提取Mtb有机提取物，发现其不能在豚鼠模型中体外激活神经元或诱导咳嗽。最后，Mtb感染的豚鼠以依赖SL-1合成的方式咳嗽。因此，他们证明了毒性人类病原体通过产生复杂脂质诱导咳嗽的未知分子机制。

据悉，肺结核是一种由Mtb引起的疾病，表现为持续咳嗽，这是主要症状和传播机制。咳嗽反射可由神经支配肺部的伤害感受神经元触发，某些细菌会产生靶向神经元的分子。但是，肺部Mtb感染如何引起咳嗽仍未确定，Mtb是否产生神经元激活的咳嗽诱导分子尚不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: Mycobacterium tuberculosis Sulfolipid-1 Activates Nociceptive Neurons and Induces Cough

Author: Cody R. Ruhl, Breanna L. Pasko, Haaris S. Khan, Lexy M. Kindt, Chelsea E. Stamm, Luis H. Franco, Connie C. Hsia, Min Zhou, Colton R. Davis, Tian Qin, Laurent Gautron, Michael D. Burton, Galo L. Mejia, Dhananjay K. Naik, Gregory Dussor, Theodore J. Price, Michael U. Shiloh

Issue&Volume: 2020-03-05

Abstract: Pulmonary tuberculosis, a disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), manifests with a persistent cough as both a primary symptom and mechanismof transmission. The cough reflex can be triggered by nociceptive neurons innervatingthe lungs, and some bacteria produce neuron-targeting molecules. However, how pulmonaryMtb infection causes cough remains undefined, and whether Mtb produces a neuron-activating,cough-inducing molecule is unknown. Here, we show that an Mtb organic extract activatesnociceptive neurons in vitro and identify the Mtb glycolipid sulfolipid-1 (SL-1) as the nociceptive molecule.Mtb organic extracts from mutants lacking SL-1 synthesis cannot activate neurons in vitro or induce cough in a guinea pig model. Finally, Mtb-infected guinea pigs cough ina manner dependent on SL-1 synthesis. Thus, we demonstrate a heretofore unknown molecularmechanism for cough induction by a virulent human pathogen via its production of acomplex lipid.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.02.026

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)30170-7