The Santa Maria lab, led by Dr Khomtchouk published in Nature Publishing Journal’s Biofilms and Microbiomes assessing the host response to CSOM using multiparameter flow cytometry and a binomial generalized linear machine learning model. We identified a surface marker of mature neutrophils, as the most informative factor of host response driving disease in the CSOM mouse model. Moreover, neutrophil-specific immunomodulatory treatment using the topical neutrophil elastase inhibitor GW 311616A significantly reduced bacterial burden relative to ofloxacin-only treated CSOM. Together these data strongly implicate neutrophils in the ineffective immune response to P. aeruginosa infection observed in CSOM and suggest that immunomodulation strategies may benefit drug-resistant infections for this disease.
