Itaconate as an adjunct therapy to treat ocular bacterial infection

The eye is highly susceptible to inflammation-mediated tissue damage evoked during bacterial infection. We observed the itaconate as one of the highly induced metabolites in mouse retina and activated macrophages, yet its functional significance remains unknown in ocular infections. In the current study, we assessed the transcriptomic changes due to 4- Octyl itaconate treatment in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs). Briefly, BMDMs were plated in 65 mm Petri-dishes (4x106) for in-vitro experiments and placed in a 5% CO2 37°C incubator overnight. BMDMs were either untreated or pre-treated (2 h) with 4-Octyl itaconate (125 µM) and left uninfected or infected with S. aureus RN6390 strain (multiplicity of infection (MOI) 10:1), for 8 h. RNA was isolated using the RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen) and processed as per manufacturer’s instructions for the paired-end RNA sequencing using Illumina platform.