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Updated: Feb 10, 2026

Differentiation of Functional Osteoclasts from Human Peripheral Blood CD14+ Monocytes
Published on: January 27, 2023
Coxiella burnetii infects osteoclasts and alters their differentiation and function in a type IV secretion
Chaobo Lai1,2,3, Md Nur A Alam Siddique1, Faiza Asghar1
1Mikrobiologisches Institut - Klinische Mikrobiologie, Immunologie und Hygiene, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Abstract:
Chronic Q fever is caused by persistent infection with the Gram-negative bacterium Coxiella burnetii. The mechanisms underlying this persistence remain elusive, but the presence of the bacteria in the bone marrow of C. burnetii-infected patients has been demonstrated. Therefore, we investigated the potential role of osteoclasts, the bone-resorbing cells, in harboring C. burnetii during infection. The histological analysis of bones from a murine model of Q fever revealed the presence of C. burnetii inside osteoclasts. In vitro infection assays confirmed that osteoclasts can be infected with C. burnetii and supported bacterial replication in a type IVB secretion system (T4BSS)-dependent manner. Wild-type C. burnetii infection inhibited osteoclast differentiation and bone-resorbing activity, while the T4BSS mutant enhanced the differentiation and bone-degrading function of osteoclasts. Taken together, our findings identify osteoclasts as a potential host cell for C. burnetii. This opens new perspectives on the mechanisms that may underlie chronic Q fever as well as questioning the putative consequences on bone biology in chronically affected patients.
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