1. Mucorales spores induce a proinflammatory cytokine response in human mononuclear phagocytes and harbor no rodlet hydrophobins
- Author
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Wurster, Sebastian, Thielen, Vanessa, Weis, Philipp, Walther, Paul, Elias, Johannes, Waaga-Gasser, Ana Maria, Dragan, Mariola, Dandekar, Thomas, Einsele, Hermann, Löffler, Jürgen, and Ullmann, Andrew J.
- Abstract
ABSTRACTMucormycoses are life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients. This study characterizes the response of human mononuclear cells to different Mucorales and Ascomycota. PBMC, monocytes, and monocyte derived dendritic cells (moDCs) from healthy donors were stimulated with resting and germinated stages of Mucorales and Ascomycota. Cytokine response and expression of activation markers were studied. Both inactivated germ tubes and resting spores of Rhizopus arrhizusand other human pathogenic Mucorales species significantly stimulated mRNA synthesis and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. Moreover, R. arrhizusspores induced the upregulation of co-stimulatory molecules on moDCs and a specific T-helper cell response. Removal of rodlet hydrophobins by hydrofluoric acid treatment of A. fumigatusconidia resulted in enhanced immunogenicity, whereas the cytokine response of PBMCs to dormant R. arrhizusspores was not influenced by hydrofluoric acid. Scanning electron micrographs of Mucorales spores did not exhibit any morphological correlates of rodlet hydrophobins. Taken together, this study revealed striking differences in the response of human mononuclear cells to resting stages of Ascomycota and Mucorales, which may be explained by absence of an immunoprotective hydrophobin layer in Mucorales spores.
- Published
- 2017
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