Let-7b-5p in vesicles secreted by human airway cells reduces biofilm formation and increases antibiotic sensitivity of <i>P. aeruginosa</i>.

Abstract

<i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> is an opportunistic pathogen that forms antibiotic-resistant biofilms, which facilitate chronic infections in immunocompromised hosts. We have previously shown that <i>P. aeruginosa</i> secretes outer-membrane vesicles that deliver a small RNA to human airway epithelial cells (AECs), in which it suppresses the innate immune response. Here, we demonstrate that interdomain communication through small RNA-containing membrane vesicles is bidirectional and that microRNAs (miRNAs) in extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by human AECs regulate protein expression, antibiotic sensitivity, and biofilm formation by <i>P. aeruginosa</i> Specifically, human EVs deliver miRNA let-7b-5p to <i>P. aeruginosa</i>, which systematically decreases the abundance of proteins essential for biofilm formation, including PpkA and ClpV1-3, and increases the ability of beta-lactam antibiotics to reduce biofilm formation by targeting the beta-lactamase AmpC. Let-7b-5p is bioinformatically predicted to target not only PpkA, ClpV1, and AmpC in <i>P. aeruginosa</i> but also the corresponding orthologs in <i>Burkholderia cenocepacia</i>, another notorious opportunistic lung pathogen, suggesting that the ability of let-7b-5p to reduce biofilm formation and increase beta-lactam sensitivity is not limited to <i>P. aeruginosa</i> Here, we provide direct evidence for transfer of miRNAs in EVs secreted by eukaryotic cells to a prokaryote, resulting in subsequent phenotypic alterations in the prokaryote as a result of this interdomain communication. Since let-7-family miRNAs are in clinical trials to reduce inflammation and because chronic <i>P. aeruginosa</i> lung infections are associated with a hyperinflammatory state, treatment with let-7b-5p and a beta-lactam antibiotic in nanoparticles or EVs may benefit patients with antibiotic-resistant <i>P. aeruginosa</i> infections.