Influence of Staphylococcus aureus biofilm infection phase on functional composition of host neutrophils

Nosocomial infections resulting from growing biofilms on the surface of indwelling medical devices represent a major therapeutic challenge in an aging population. In this context, current models have so far not addressed the synergy between a developing biofilm and the host's immune response. Here we employed a mouse model for implant-associated infection from Staphylococcus aureus biofilms and, through functional assays, next generation single cell sequencing and spectral flow cytometry, observed a direct influence of the developing biofilms in the phenotype of tissue infiltrating neutrophils over the course of infection. Our results allowed us to differentiate neutrophil subpopulations, identifying some which may be protective of the biofilm and which could be the target for future therapies. Overall design: skin infiltrates, from peri-implant tissue after biofilm implant-associated infection, were enzymatically isolated and sorted by Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to the prescence of CD45 signaland analyzed using scRNA-seq.