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Jaeger M, Dietschmann A, Austermeier S, Dinçer S, Porschitz P, Vornholz L, Maas RJ, Sprenkeler EG, Ruland J, Wirtz S, Azam T, Joosten LA, Hube B, Netea MG, Dinarello CA, Gresnigt MS. Alpha1-antitrypsin impacts innate host-pathogen interactions with Candida albicans by stimulating fungal filamentation. Virulence 2024; 15:2333367. [PMID: 38515333 PMCID: PMC11008552 DOI: 10.1080/21505594.2024.2333367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Our immune system possesses sophisticated mechanisms to cope with invading microorganisms, while pathogens evolve strategies to deal with threats imposed by host immunity. Human plasma protein α1-antitrypsin (AAT) exhibits pleiotropic immune-modulating properties by both preventing immunopathology and improving antimicrobial host defence. Genetic associations suggested a role for AAT in candidemia, the most frequent fungal blood stream infection in intensive care units, yet little is known about how AAT influences interactions between Candida albicans and the immune system. Here, we show that AAT differentially impacts fungal killing by innate phagocytes. We observed that AAT induces fungal transcriptional reprogramming, associated with cell wall remodelling and downregulation of filamentation repressors. At low concentrations, the cell-wall remodelling induced by AAT increased immunogenic β-glucan exposure and consequently improved fungal clearance by monocytes. Contrastingly, higher AAT concentrations led to excessive C. albicans filamentation and thus promoted fungal immune escape from monocytes and macrophages. This underscores that fungal adaptations to the host protein AAT can differentially define the outcome of encounters with innate immune cells, either contributing to improved immune recognition or fungal immune escape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Jaeger
- Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, USA
- Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center and Radboud Center for Infectious diseases (RCI), Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Axel Dietschmann
- Junior Research Group Adaptive Pathogenicity Strategies, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany
| | - Sophie Austermeier
- Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany
| | - Sude Dinçer
- Junior Research Group Adaptive Pathogenicity Strategies, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany
| | - Pauline Porschitz
- Junior Research Group Adaptive Pathogenicity Strategies, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany
| | - Larsen Vornholz
- Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, School of Medicine and Health, Center for Translational Cancer Research (TranslaTUM), Munich, Germany
| | - Ralph J.A. Maas
- Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, USA
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Laboratory of Hematology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Evelien G.G. Sprenkeler
- Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center and Radboud Center for Infectious diseases (RCI), Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Jürgen Ruland
- Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, School of Medicine and Health, Center for Translational Cancer Research (TranslaTUM), Munich, Germany
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), partner site Munich, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), partner site Munich, Germany
| | - Stefan Wirtz
- Medizinische Klinik 1, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Tania Azam
- Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, USA
| | - Leo A.B. Joosten
- Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center and Radboud Center for Infectious diseases (RCI), Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Bernhard Hube
- Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany
- Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
| | - Mihai G. Netea
- Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center and Radboud Center for Infectious diseases (RCI), Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Charles A. Dinarello
- Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, USA
- Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center and Radboud Center for Infectious diseases (RCI), Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Mark S. Gresnigt
- Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, USA
- Junior Research Group Adaptive Pathogenicity Strategies, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany
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Hitzler S, Austermeier S, Pekmezović M, Brandt P, Hube B, Vylkova S, Gresnigt MS. P323 Virulence not required? Albumin promotes pathogenicity of (non)-damaging Candida strains. Med Mycol 2022. [PMCID: PMC9554578 DOI: 10.1093/mmy/myac072.p323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Poster session 3, September 23, 2022, 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM The pathogenicity of the dimorphic yeast Candida albicans is associated with filamentation, adhesion, invasion, and production of the toxin Candidalysin. However, there are certain clinical isolates and other Candida spp., that cause infection independent of filamentation or the production of Candidalysin. Consequently, these strains and species are often non-damaging in vitro, this does not correlate with their potential to cause infection in patients. We hypothesize that specific host factors, which trigger pathogenicity, are absent in in vitro models, and thereby not reflecting the situation in the host. To determine the impact of albumin, the most abundant protein in the human body, vaginal epithelial cells were infected with different C. albicans strains and Candida species. Interestingly, after prolonged infection (45 h) albumin increased the damage potential, even in otherwise non-damaging and non-filamentous strains. This included deletion mutants deficient in filamentation, als3 adhesin/invasin, thigmotropism, or Candidalysin production. Yet, the increased damage was likely not solely an effect of increased growth and nutrient competition between the fungus and epithelial cells. Reduced damage in presence of protease inhibitors and albumin hint toward the role of proteases in the utilization of albumin. Albumin enhanced C. albicans metabolism, by stimulating the utilization of various nitrogen sources. This metabolic adaption could explain the advantage and enhanced growth as a strain and species-independent feature. Our data suggest that common host factors can impact C. albicans to cause damage independent of adhesion, invasion, filamentation, and toxin production. Possibly, also other host-derived factors can drive the pathogenic potential of fungi through unresolved mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophia Hitzler
- Junior Research Group Adaptive Pathogenicity Strategies , Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology Hans Knöll Institute, 07 745 Jena , Germany
| | - Sophie Austermeier
- Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms , Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute, 07 745 Jena , Germany
| | - Marina Pekmezović
- Junior Research Group Adaptive Pathogenicity Strategies , Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology Hans Knöll Institute, 07 745 Jena , Germany
| | - Philipp Brandt
- Department of Host Fungal Interfaces , Centre for Innovation Competence (ZIK) Septomics, 07 745 Jena , Germany
| | - Bernhard Hube
- Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms , Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute, 07 745 Jena , Germany
- Institut of Microbiology , Friedrich Schiller University Jena, 07 745 Jena , Germany
| | - Slavena Vylkova
- Department of Host Fungal Interfaces , Centre for Innovation Competence (ZIK) Septomics, 07 745 Jena , Germany
| | - Mark Sebastian Gresnigt
- Junior Research Group Adaptive Pathogenicity Strategies , Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology Hans Knöll Institute, 07 745 Jena , Germany
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Pekmezovic M, Kaune AK, Austermeier S, Hitzler SUJ, Mogavero S, Hovhannisyan H, Gabaldón T, Gresnigt MS, Hube B. Human albumin enhances the pathogenic potential of Candida glabrata on vaginal epithelial cells. PLoS Pathog 2021; 17:e1010037. [PMID: 34710198 PMCID: PMC8577789 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Revised: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The opportunistic pathogen Candida glabrata is the second most frequent causative agent of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), a disease that affects 70–75% of women at least once during their life. However, C. glabrata is almost avirulent in mice and normally incapable of inflicting damage to vaginal epithelial cells in vitro. We thus proposed that host factors present in vivo may influence C. glabrata pathogenicity. We, therefore, analyzed the impact of albumin, one of the most abundant proteins of the vaginal fluid. The presence of human, but not murine, albumin dramatically increased the potential of C. glabrata to damage vaginal epithelial cells. This effect depended on macropinocytosis-mediated epithelial uptake of albumin and subsequent proteolytic processing. The enhanced pathogenicity of C. glabrata can be explained by a combination of beneficial effects for the fungus, which includes an increased access to iron, accelerated growth, and increased adhesion. Screening of C. glabrata deletion mutants revealed that Hap5, a key regulator of iron homeostasis, is essential for the albumin-augmented damage potential. The albumin-augmented pathogenicity was reversed by the addition of iron chelators and a similar increase in pathogenicity was shown by increasing the iron availability, confirming a key role of iron. Accelerated growth not only led to higher cell numbers, but also to increased fungal metabolic activity and oxidative stress resistance. Finally, the albumin-driven enhanced damage potential was associated with the expression of distinct C. glabrata virulence genes. Transcriptional responses of the epithelial cells suggested an unfolded protein response (UPR) and ER-stress responses combined with glucose starvation induced by fast growing C. glabrata cells as potential mechanisms by which cytotoxicity is mediated.Collectively, we demonstrate that albumin augments the pathogenic potential of C. glabrata during interaction with vaginal epithelial cells. This suggests a role for albumin as a key player in the pathogenesis of VVC. Candida glabrata is the overall second causative species of candidiasis in humans, but little is known about the pathogenicity mechanisms of this yeast. C. glabrata is capable of causing lethal systemic candidiasis mostly in elderly immunocompromised patients, but is also a frequent cause of vulvovaginal candidiasis. These clinical insights suggest that C. glabrata has a high virulence potential, yet little pathogenicity is observed in both in vitro and in vivo infection models. The finding that human albumin, the most abundant protein in the human body, is boosting C. glabrata pathogenicity in vitro provides novel insights into C. glabrata pathogenicity mechanisms and shows that the presence of distinct human factors can have a significant influence on the virulence potential of a pathogenic microbe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Pekmezovic
- Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knoell Institute, Jena, Germany
| | - Ann-Kristin Kaune
- Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knoell Institute, Jena, Germany
| | - Sophie Austermeier
- Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knoell Institute, Jena, Germany
| | - Sophia U. J. Hitzler
- Junior Research Group Adaptive Pathogenicity Strategies, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knoell Institute, Jena, Germany
| | - Selene Mogavero
- Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knoell Institute, Jena, Germany
| | - Hrant Hovhannisyan
- Life Sciences Department, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, Spain
- Mechanisms of Disease Department, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Toni Gabaldón
- Life Sciences Department, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, Spain
- Mechanisms of Disease Department, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mark S. Gresnigt
- Junior Research Group Adaptive Pathogenicity Strategies, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knoell Institute, Jena, Germany
- * E-mail: (MSG); (BH)
| | - Bernhard Hube
- Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knoell Institute, Jena, Germany
- Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
- * E-mail: (MSG); (BH)
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Austermeier S, Kasper L, Westman J, Gresnigt MS. I want to break free – macrophage strategies to recognize and kill Candida albicans, and fungal counter-strategies to escape. Curr Opin Microbiol 2020; 58:15-23. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2020.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2020] [Revised: 05/11/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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Henke NA, Austermeier S, Grothaus IL, Götker S, Persicke M, Peters-Wendisch P, Wendisch VF. Corynebacterium glutamicum CrtR and Its Orthologs in Actinobacteria: Conserved Function and Application as Genetically Encoded Biosensor for Detection of Geranylgeranyl Pyrophosphate. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:E5482. [PMID: 32751941 PMCID: PMC7432914 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21155482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2020] [Revised: 07/27/2020] [Accepted: 07/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Carotenoid biosynthesis in Corynebacteriumglutamicum is controlled by the MarR-type regulator CrtR, which represses transcription of the promoter of the crt operon (PcrtE) and of its own gene (PcrtR). Geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP), and to a lesser extent other isoprenoid pyrophosphates, interfere with the binding of CrtR to its target DNA in vitro, suggesting they act as inducers of carotenoid biosynthesis. CrtR homologs are encoded in the genomes of many other actinobacteria. In order to determine if and to what extent the function of CrtR, as a metabolite-dependent transcriptional repressor of carotenoid biosynthesis genes responding to GGPP, is conserved among actinobacteria, five CrtR orthologs were characterized in more detail. EMSA assays showed that the CrtR orthologs from Corynebacteriumcallunae, Acidipropionibacteriumjensenii, Paenarthrobacternicotinovorans, Micrococcusluteus and Pseudarthrobacterchlorophenolicus bound to the intergenic region between their own gene and the divergently oriented gene, and that GGPP inhibited these interactions. In turn, the CrtR protein from C. glutamicum bound to DNA regions upstream of the orthologous crtR genes that contained a 15 bp DNA sequence motif conserved between the tested bacteria. Moreover, the CrtR orthologs functioned in C. glutamicum in vivo at least partially, as they complemented the defects in the pigmentation and expression of a PcrtE_gfpuv transcriptional fusion that were observed in a crtR deletion mutant to varying degrees. Subsequently, the utility of the PcrtE_gfpuv transcriptional fusion and chromosomally encoded CrtR from C. glutamicum as genetically encoded biosensor for GGPP was studied. Combined FACS and LC-MS analysis demonstrated a correlation between the sensor fluorescent signal and the intracellular GGPP concentration, and allowed us to monitor intracellular GGPP concentrations during growth and differentiate between strains engineered to accumulate GGPP at different concentrations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadja A. Henke
- Faculty of Biology & CeBiTec, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany; (N.A.H.); (S.A.); (I.L.G.); (S.G.); (P.P.-W.)
| | - Sophie Austermeier
- Faculty of Biology & CeBiTec, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany; (N.A.H.); (S.A.); (I.L.G.); (S.G.); (P.P.-W.)
- Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (HKI), 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Isabell L. Grothaus
- Faculty of Biology & CeBiTec, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany; (N.A.H.); (S.A.); (I.L.G.); (S.G.); (P.P.-W.)
- Faculty of Production Engineering, Bremen University, 28359 Bremen, Germany
| | - Susanne Götker
- Faculty of Biology & CeBiTec, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany; (N.A.H.); (S.A.); (I.L.G.); (S.G.); (P.P.-W.)
| | - Marcus Persicke
- Faculty of CeBiTec, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany;
| | - Petra Peters-Wendisch
- Faculty of Biology & CeBiTec, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany; (N.A.H.); (S.A.); (I.L.G.); (S.G.); (P.P.-W.)
| | - Volker F. Wendisch
- Faculty of Biology & CeBiTec, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany; (N.A.H.); (S.A.); (I.L.G.); (S.G.); (P.P.-W.)
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