Bacterial Manipulation of the Integrated Stress Response: A New Perspective on Infection

Host immune activation forms a vital line of defence against bacterial pathogenicity. However, just as hosts have evolved immune responses, bacteria have developed means to escape, hijack and subvert these responses to promote survival. In recent years, a highly conserved group of signalling cascades within the host, collectively termed the integrated stress response (ISR), have become increasingly implicated in immune activation during bacterial infection. Activation of the ISR leads to a complex web of cellular reprogramming, which ultimately results in the paradoxical outcomes of either cellular homeostasis or cell death. Therefore, any pathogen with means to manipulate this pathway could induce a range of cellular outcomes and benefit from favourable conditions for long-term survival and replication. This review aims to outline what is currently known about bacterial manipulation of the ISR and present key hypotheses highlighting areas for future research.