Host-based lipid inflammation drives pathogenesis in Francisella infection

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) was used to elucidate host lipids involved in the inflammatory signaling pathway generated at the host-pathogen interface during a septic bacterial infection. Using Francisella novicida as a model organism, a bacterial lipid virulence factor (endotoxin) was imaged and identified along with host phospholipids involved in the splenic response in murine tissues. Here, we demonstrate detection and distribution of endotoxin in a lethal murine F. novicida infection model, in addition to determining the temporally and spatially resolved innate lipid inflammatory response in both 2D and 3D renderings using MSI. Further, we show that the cyclooxygenase-2-dependent lip…