Mechanical competition triggered by innate immune signaling drives the collective extrusion of bacterially infected epithelial cells

Intracellular pathogens alter their host cells' mechanics to promote dissemination through tissues. Conversely, host cells may respond to the presence of pathogens by altering their mechanics to limit infection. Here, we monitored epithelial cell monolayers infected with intracellular bacterial pathogens, Listeria monocytogenes or Rickettsia parkeri, over days. Under conditions in which these pathogens trigger innate immune signaling through NF-κB and use actin-based motility to spread non-lytically intercellularly, we found that infected cell domains formed three-dimensional mounds. These mounds resulted from uninfected cells moving toward the infection site, collectively squeezing the softer and less contractile infected cells upward and ejecting them from the monolayer. Bacteria in mounds were less able to spread laterally in the monolayer, limiting the growth of the infection focus, while extruded infected cells underwent cell death. Thus, the coordinated forceful action of uninfected cells actively eliminates large domains of infected cells, consistent with this collective cell response representing an innate immunity-driven process.