Journal
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 3, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2012.00413
Keywords
Aspergillus; innate immunity and responses; host pathogen interactions; aspergillosis; cellular immunity
Categories
Funding
- European Science bounda
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Invasive aspergillosis is a significant threat to health and is a major cause of mortality in immunocompromised individuals. Understanding the interaction between the fungus and the immune system is important in determining how the immunocompetent host remains disease free. Several studies examining the direct interaction between Aspergillus fumigatus and purified innate immune cells have been conducted to measure the responses of both the host cells and the pathogen. It has been revealed that innate immune cells have different modes of action ranging from effective fungal killing by neutrophils to the less aggressive response of dendritic cells. Natural killer cells do not phagocytose the fungus unlike the other innate immune cells mentioned but appear to mediate their antifungal effect through the release of gamma interferon. Transcriptional analysis of A. fumigatus interacting with these cells has indicated that it can adapt to the harsh microenvironment of the phagosome and produces toxins, ribotoxin and gliotoxin, that can induce cell death in the majority of innate immune cells. These data point toward potential novel antifungal treatments including the use of innate immune cells as antifungal vaccines.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available