Reverse transcriptase inhibitors prevent liver abscess formation during Escherichia coli bloodstream infection

The presence of bacteria in the bloodstream is associated with severe clinical outcomes. In mice, intravenous inoculation of Escherichia coli can lead to the formation of macroscopic abscesses in the liver. Abscesses are regions of severe necrosis and consist of millions of bacteria surrounded by inflammatory immune cells. Liver abscess susceptibility varies widely across strains of mice, but the host factors governing this variation are unknown. Here, we profiled hepatic transcriptomes in mice with varying susceptibility to liver abscess formation. We found that transcripts from endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are robustly induced in the liver by E. coli infection and ERV expression positively correlates with the frequency of abscess formation. Hypothesizing that ERV-encoded reverse transcriptase may generate cytoplasmic DNA and heighten inflammatory responses, we tested whether nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) influence abscess formation. Strikingly, a single NRTI dose administered immediately following E. coli inoculation prevented abscess formation, leading to a concomitant 100,000-fold reduction in bacterial burden. We provide evidence that NRTIs inhibit abscess formation by preventing the tissue necrosis that facilitates bacterial replication. Together, our findings suggest that endogenous reverse transcriptases drive inflammatory responses during bacterial bloodstream infection to drive abscess formation. The high efficacy of NRTIs in preventing abscess formation suggests that the consequences of reverse transcription on inflammation should be further examined, particularly in infectious diseases where inflammation drives negative clinical outcomes, such as sepsis.