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Loh JT, Lam KP. Fungal infections: Immune defense, immunotherapies and vaccines. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 2023; 196:114775. [PMID: 36924530 DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2023.114775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2023] [Revised: 03/05/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023]
Abstract
Invasive fungal infection is an under recognized and emerging global health threat. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the first ever list of health-threatening fungi to guide research and public health interventions to strengthen global response to fungi infections and antifungal resistance. Currently, antifungal drugs only demonstrate partial success in improving prognosis of infected patients, and this is compounded by the rapid evolution of drug resistance among fungi species. The increased prevalence of fungal infections in individuals with underlying immunological deficiencies reflects the importance of an intact host immune system in controlling mycoses, and further highlights immunomodulation as a potential new avenue for the treatment of disseminated fungal diseases. In this review, we will summarize how host innate immune cells sense invading fungi through their pattern recognition receptors, and subsequently initiate a series of effector mechanisms and adaptive immune responses to mediate fungal clearance. In addition, we will discuss emerging preclinical and clinical data on antifungal immunotherapies and fungal vaccines which can potentially expand our antifungal armamentarium in future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Tong Loh
- Singapore Immunology Network, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, 8A Biomedical Grove, S138648, Republic of Singapore.
| | - Kong-Peng Lam
- Singapore Immunology Network, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, 8A Biomedical Grove, S138648, Republic of Singapore; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 5, Science Drive 2, S117545, Republic of Singapore; School of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Nanyang Technological University, 60, Nanyang Drive, S637551, Republic of Singapore.
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2
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Nag P, Paul S, Shriti S, Das S. Defence response in plants and animals against a common fungal pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum. CURRENT RESEARCH IN MICROBIAL SCIENCES 2022; 3:100135. [PMID: 35909626 PMCID: PMC9325751 DOI: 10.1016/j.crmicr.2022.100135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2021] [Revised: 03/24/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Fusarium oxysporum species complex (FOSC) is considered one of the most devastating plant pathogen. FOSC is an emerging pathogen of immunocompromised individuals. Mycotoxins produced by FOSC predisposes the host to other pathogens. Comparative immune reactions in plant and invertebrate show that several antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and secondary metabolites maybe used as control against Fusarium infection.
Plant pathogens emerging as threat to human and animal health has been a matter of concern within the scientific community. Fusarium oxysporum, predominantly a phytopathogen, can infect both plants and animals. As a plant pathogen, F. oxysporum is one of the most economically damaging pathogen. In humans, F. oxysporum can infect immunocompromised individuals and is increasingly being considered as a problematic pathogen. Mycotoxins produced by F. oxysporum supress the innate immune pathways in both plants and animals. Hence, F. oxysporum is the perfect example for studying similarities and differences between defence strategies adopted by plants and animals. In this review we will discuss the innate immune response of plant and animal hosts for protecting against F. oxysporum infection. Such studies will be helpful for identifying genes, protein and metabolites with antifungal properties suitable for protecting humans.
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3
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Lorenzo-Gutiérrez D, Gómez-Gil L, Guarro J, Roncero MIG, Capilla J, López-Fernández L. Cu transporter protein CrpF protects against Cu-induced toxicity in Fusarium oxysporum. Virulence 2021; 11:1108-1121. [PMID: 32862758 PMCID: PMC7549990 DOI: 10.1080/21505594.2020.1809324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Cu is an essential trace element for cell growth and proliferation. However, excess of Cu accumulation leads to cellular toxicity. Thus, precise and tight regulation of Cu homeostasis processes, including transport, delivery, storage, detoxification, and efflux machineries, is required. Moreover, the maintenance of Cu homeostasis is critical for the survival and virulence of fungal pathogens. Cu homeostasis has been extensively studied in mammals, bacteria, and yeast, but it has not yet been well documented in filamentous fungi. In the present work, we investigated Cu tolerance in the filamentous fungus Fusarium oxysporum by analysing the Cu transporter coding gene crpF, previously studied in Aspergillus fumigatus. The expression studies demonstrated that crpF is upregulated in the presence of Cu and its deletion leads to severe sensitivity to low levels of CuSO4 in F. oxysporum. Targeted deletion of crpF did not significantly alter the resistance of the fungus to macrophage killing, nor its pathogenic behaviour on the tomato plants. However, the targeted deletion mutant ΔcrpF showed increased virulence in a murine model of systemic infection compared to wild-type strain (wt).
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Affiliation(s)
- Damaris Lorenzo-Gutiérrez
- Unitat de Microbiologia, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut and Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Universitat Rovira i Virgili , Reus, Spain
| | - Lucía Gómez-Gil
- Departamento de Genetica, Facultad de Ciencias and Campus De Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario ceiA3, Universidad de Cordoba , Cordoba, Spain
| | - Josep Guarro
- Unitat de Microbiologia, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut and Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Universitat Rovira i Virgili , Reus, Spain
| | - M Isabel G Roncero
- Departamento de Genetica, Facultad de Ciencias and Campus De Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario ceiA3, Universidad de Cordoba , Cordoba, Spain
| | - Javier Capilla
- Unitat de Microbiologia, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut and Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Universitat Rovira i Virgili , Reus, Spain
| | - Loida López-Fernández
- Unitat de Microbiologia, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut and Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Universitat Rovira i Virgili , Reus, Spain
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Zhou Y, Cheng L, Lei YL, Ren B, Zhou X. The Interactions Between Candida albicans and Mucosal Immunity. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:652725. [PMID: 34234752 PMCID: PMC8255368 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.652725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/31/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Mucosa protects the body against external pathogen invasion. However, pathogen colonies on the mucosa can invade the mucosa when the immunosurveillance is compromised, causing mucosal infection and subsequent diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to timely and effectively monitor and control pathogenic microorganisms through mucosal immunity. Candida albicans is the most prevalent fungi on the mucosa. The C. albicans colonies proliferate and increase their virulence, causing severe infectious diseases and even death, especially in immunocompromised patients. The normal host mucosal immune defense inhibits pathogenic C. albicans through stepwise processes, such as pathogen recognition, cytokine production, and immune cell phagocytosis. Herein, the current advances in the interactions between C. albicans and host mucosal immune defenses have been summarized to improve understanding on the immune mechanisms against fungal infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yujie Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Guanghua School of Stomatology, Hospital of Stomatology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lei Cheng
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yu L. Lei
- Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan School of Dentistry, University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Biao Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xuedong Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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Lorenzo-Gutiérrez D, Gómez-Gil L, Guarro J, Roncero MIG, Fernández-Bravo A, Capilla J, López-Fernández L. Role of the Fusarium oxysporum metallothionein Mt1 in resistance to metal toxicity and virulence. Metallomics 2019; 11:1230-1240. [DOI: 10.1039/c9mt00081j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Soil organisms exhibit high tolerance to heavy metals, probably acquired through evolutionary adaptation to contaminated environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damaris Lorenzo-Gutiérrez
- Unitat de Microbiologia
- Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut and Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV)
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili
- Reus
- Spain
| | - Lucía Gómez-Gil
- Departamento de Genetica
- Facultad de Ciencias and Campus de Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario ceiA3
- Universidad de Cordoba
- 14071 Cordoba
- Spain
| | - Josep Guarro
- Unitat de Microbiologia
- Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut and Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV)
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili
- Reus
- Spain
| | - M. Isabel G. Roncero
- Departamento de Genetica
- Facultad de Ciencias and Campus de Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario ceiA3
- Universidad de Cordoba
- 14071 Cordoba
- Spain
| | - Ana Fernández-Bravo
- Unitat de Microbiologia
- Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut and Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV)
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili
- Reus
- Spain
| | - Javier Capilla
- Unitat de Microbiologia
- Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut and Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV)
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili
- Reus
- Spain
| | - Loida López-Fernández
- Unitat de Microbiologia
- Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut and Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV)
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili
- Reus
- Spain
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Abstract
The surveillance and elimination of fungal pathogens rely heavily on the sentinel behaviour of phagocytic cells of the innate immune system, especially macrophages and neutrophils. The efficiency by which these cells recognize, uptake and kill fungal pathogens depends on the size, shape and composition of the fungal cells and the success or failure of various fungal mechanisms of immune evasion. In this Review, we describe how fungi, particularly Candida albicans, interact with phagocytic cells and discuss the many factors that contribute to fungal immune evasion and prevent host elimination of these pathogenic microorganisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lars P Erwig
- Aberdeen Fungal Group, College of Life Sciences and Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK.,GlaxoSmithKline, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG1 2NY, UK
| | - Neil A R Gow
- Aberdeen Fungal Group, College of Life Sciences and Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK
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Kraibooj K, Schoeler H, Svensson CM, Brakhage AA, Figge MT. Automated quantification of the phagocytosis of Aspergillus fumigatus conidia by a novel image analysis algorithm. Front Microbiol 2015; 6:549. [PMID: 26106370 PMCID: PMC4460560 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2015] [Accepted: 05/19/2015] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Studying the pathobiology of the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus has gained a lot of attention in recent years. This is due to the fact that this fungus is a human pathogen that can cause severe diseases, like invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients. Because alveolar macrophages belong to the first line of defense against the fungus, here, we conduct an image-based study on the host-pathogen interaction between murine alveolar macrophages and A. fumigatus. This is achieved by an automated image analysis approach that uses a combination of thresholding, watershed segmentation and feature-based object classification. In contrast to previous approaches, our algorithm allows for the segmentation of individual macrophages in the images and this enables us to compute the distribution of phagocytosed and macrophage-adherent conidia over all macrophages. The novel automated image-based analysis provides access to all cell-cell interactions in the assay and thereby represents a framework that enables comprehensive computation of diverse characteristic parameters and comparative investigation for different strains. We here apply automated image analysis to confocal laser scanning microscopy images of the two wild-type strains ATCC 46645 and CEA10 of A. fumigatus and investigate the ability of macrophages to phagocytose the respective conidia. It is found that the CEA10 strain triggers a stronger response of the macrophages as revealed by a higher phagocytosis ratio and a larger portion of the macrophages being active in the phagocytosis process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaswara Kraibooj
- Applied Systems Biology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute Jena, Germany ; Faculty of Biology and Pharmacy, Friedrich Schiller University Jena Jena, Germany
| | - Hanno Schoeler
- Faculty of Biology and Pharmacy, Friedrich Schiller University Jena Jena, Germany ; Department of Molecular and Applied Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute Jena, Germany
| | - Carl-Magnus Svensson
- Applied Systems Biology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute Jena, Germany
| | - Axel A Brakhage
- Faculty of Biology and Pharmacy, Friedrich Schiller University Jena Jena, Germany ; Department of Molecular and Applied Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute Jena, Germany
| | - Marc Thilo Figge
- Applied Systems Biology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute Jena, Germany ; Faculty of Biology and Pharmacy, Friedrich Schiller University Jena Jena, Germany
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Tóth R, Tóth A, Papp C, Jankovics F, Vágvölgyi C, Alonso MF, Bain JM, Erwig LP, Gácser A. Kinetic studies of Candida parapsilosis phagocytosis by macrophages and detection of intracellular survival mechanisms. Front Microbiol 2014; 5:633. [PMID: 25477874 PMCID: PMC4238376 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2014] [Accepted: 11/05/2014] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Even though the number of Candida infections due to non-albicans species like C. parapsilosis has been increasing, little is known about their pathomechanisms. Certain aspects of C. parapsilosis and host interactions have already been investigated; however we lack information about the innate cellular responses toward this species. The aim of our project was to dissect and compare the phagocytosis of C. parapsilosis to C. albicans and to another Candida species C. glabrata by murine and human macrophages by live cell video microscopy. We broke down the phagocytic process into three stages: macrophage migration, engulfment of fungal cells and host cell killing after the uptake. Our results showed increased macrophage migration toward C. parapsilosis and we observed differences during the engulfment processes when comparing the three species. The engulfment time of C. parapsilosis was comparable to that of C. albicans regardless of the pseudohypha length and spatial orientation relative to phagocytes, while the rate of host cell killing and the overall uptake regarding C. parapsilosis showed similarities mainly with C. glabrata. Furthermore, we observed difference between human and murine phagocytes in the uptake of C. parapsilosis. UV-treatment of fungal cells had varied effects on phagocytosis dependent upon which Candida strain was used. Besides statistical analysis, live cell imaging videos showed that this species similarly to the other two also has the ability to survive in host cells via the following mechanisms: yeast replication, and pseudohypha growth inside of phagocytes, exocytosis of fungal cells and also abortion of host cell mitosis following the uptake. According to our knowledge this is the first study that provides a thorough examination of C. parapsilosis phagocytosis and reports intracellular survival mechanisms associated with this species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renáta Tóth
- Department of Microbiology, University of Szeged Szeged, Hungary
| | - Adél Tóth
- Department of Microbiology, University of Szeged Szeged, Hungary
| | - Csaba Papp
- Department of Microbiology, University of Szeged Szeged, Hungary
| | - Ferenc Jankovics
- Institute of Genetics, Biological Research Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Szeged, Hungary
| | - Csaba Vágvölgyi
- Department of Microbiology, University of Szeged Szeged, Hungary
| | - Maria F Alonso
- Aberdeen Fungal Group, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, UK
| | - Judith M Bain
- Aberdeen Fungal Group, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, UK
| | - Lars-Peter Erwig
- Aberdeen Fungal Group, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, UK
| | - Attila Gácser
- Department of Microbiology, University of Szeged Szeged, Hungary
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Novel insights into host-fungal pathogen interactions derived from live-cell imaging. Semin Immunopathol 2014; 37:131-9. [PMID: 25398200 PMCID: PMC4326660 DOI: 10.1007/s00281-014-0463-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2014] [Accepted: 11/04/2014] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman outlined in his 1959 lecture, “There’s plenty of room at the bottom”, the enormous possibility of producing and visualising things at smaller scales. The advent of advanced scanning and transmission electron microscopy and high-resolution microscopy has begun to open the door to visualise host-pathogen interactions at smaller scales, and spinning disc confocal and two-photon microscopy has improved our ability to study these events in real time in three dimensions. The aim of this review is to illustrate some of the advances in understanding host-fungal interactions that have been made in recent years in particular those relating to the interactions of live fungal pathogens with phagocytes. Dynamic imaging of host-pathogen interactions has recently revealed novel detail and unsuspected mechanistic insights, facilitating the dissection of the phagocytic process into its component parts. Here, we will highlight advances in our knowledge of host-fungal pathogen interactions, including the specific effects of fungal cell viability, cell wall composition and morphogenesis on the phagocytic process and try to define the relative contributions of neutrophils and macrophages to the clearance of fungal pathogens in vitro and the infected host.
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