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Munyonho FT, Clark RDE, Lin D, Khatun MS, Pungan D, Dai G, Kolls JK. Precision-cut lung slices as an ex vivo model to study Pneumocystis murina survival and antimicrobial susceptibility. mBio 2024; 15:e0146423. [PMID: 38117035 PMCID: PMC10790776 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01464-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
IMPORTANCE Our study reveals the potential of precision-cut lung slices as an ex vivo platform to study the growth/survival of Pneumocystis spp. that can facilitate the development of new anti-fungal drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ferris T. Munyonho
- Center for Translational Research in Infection and Inflammation Tulane School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
| | - Robert D. E. Clark
- Center for Translational Research in Infection and Inflammation Tulane School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
| | - Dong Lin
- Center for Translational Research in Infection and Inflammation Tulane School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
| | - Mst Shamima Khatun
- Center for Translational Research in Infection and Inflammation Tulane School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
| | - Dora Pungan
- Center for Translational Research in Infection and Inflammation Tulane School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
| | - Guixiang Dai
- Center for Translational Research in Infection and Inflammation Tulane School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
| | - Jay K. Kolls
- Center for Translational Research in Infection and Inflammation Tulane School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
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Höft MA, Duvenage L, Salie S, Keeton R, Botha A, Schwartz IS, Govender NP, Brown GD, Hoving JC. The pathogenesis of experimental Emergomycosis in mice. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2024; 18:e0011850. [PMID: 38198478 PMCID: PMC10805315 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Emergomyces africanus is a recently identified thermally-dimorphic fungal pathogen that causes disseminated infection in people living with advanced HIV disease. Known as emergomycosis, this disseminated disease is associated with very high case fatality rates. Over the last decade, improved diagnostics and fungal identification in South Africa resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of reported cases. Although the true burden of disease is still unknown, emergomycosis is among the most frequently diagnosed dimorphic fungal infections in Southern Africa; and additional species in the genus have been identified on four continents. Little is known about the pathogenesis and the host's immune response to this emerging pathogen. Therefore, we established a murine model of pulmonary infection using a clinical isolate, E. africanus (CBS 136260). Both conidia and yeast forms caused pulmonary and disseminated infection in mice with organisms isolated in culture from lung, spleen, liver, and kidney. Wild-type C57BL/6 mice demonstrated a drop in body weight at two weeks post-infection, corresponding to a peak in fungal burden in the lung, spleen, liver, and kidney. An increase in pro-inflammatory cytokine production was detected in homogenized lung supernatants including IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-6, IL12-p40 and IL-17 at three- and four-weeks post-infection. No significant differences in TNF, IL-12p70 and IL-10 were observed in wild-type mice between one and four-weeks post-infection. Rag-1-deficient mice, lacking mature T-and B-cells, had an increased fungal burden associated with reduced IFN-γ production. Together our data support a protective T-helper type-1 immune response to E. africanus infection. This may provide a possible explanation for the susceptibility of only a subset of people living with advanced HIV disease despite hypothesized widespread environmental exposure. In summary, we have established a novel murine model of E. africanus disease providing critical insights into the host immune components required for eliminating the infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxine A. Höft
- CMM AFRICA Medical Mycology Research Unit, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine (IDM), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
- Division of Immunology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Lucian Duvenage
- CMM AFRICA Medical Mycology Research Unit, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine (IDM), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
- Division of Immunology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Sumayah Salie
- CMM AFRICA Medical Mycology Research Unit, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine (IDM), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
- Division of Immunology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Roanne Keeton
- Division of Immunology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Alfred Botha
- Department of Microbiology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
| | - Ilan S. Schwartz
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Nelesh P. Govender
- CMM AFRICA Medical Mycology Research Unit, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine (IDM), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
- National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa; School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter, Geoffrey Pope Building Stocker Road, Exeter, United Kingdom
| | - Gordon D. Brown
- CMM AFRICA Medical Mycology Research Unit, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine (IDM), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
- Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter, Geoffrey Pope Building Stocker Road, Exeter, United Kingdom
| | - Jennifer Claire Hoving
- CMM AFRICA Medical Mycology Research Unit, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine (IDM), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
- Division of Immunology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
- Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter, Geoffrey Pope Building Stocker Road, Exeter, United Kingdom
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