scholarly journals Histoplasma Responses to Nutritional Immunity Imposed by Macrophage Activation

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Brechting ◽  
Chad A. Rappleye

The fungal pathogen Histoplasma capsulatum resides within the phagosome of host phagocytic cells. Within this intracellular compartment, Histoplasma yeast replication requires the acquisition of several essential nutrients, including metal ions. Recent work has shown that while iron, zinc, and copper are sufficiently abundant in resting macrophages, cytokine activation of these host cells causes restriction of these metals from intracellular yeasts as a form of nutritional immunity. Faced with limited iron availability in the phagosome following macrophage activation by IFN-γ, Histoplasma yeasts secrete iron-scavenging siderophores and employ multiple strategies for reduction of ferric iron to the more physiologically useful ferrous form. IFN-γ activation of macrophages also limits availability of copper in the phagosome, forcing Histoplasma reliance on the high affinity Ctr3 copper importer for copper acquisition. GM-CSF activation stimulates macrophage production of zinc-chelating metallothioneins and zinc transporters to sequester zinc from Histoplasma yeasts. In response, Histoplasma yeasts express the Zrt2 zinc importer. These findings highlight the dynamics of phagosomal metal ion concentrations in host-pathogen interactions and explain one mechanism by which macrophages become a less permissive environment for Histoplasma replication with the onset of adaptive immunity.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Harshini Weerasinghe ◽  
Hayley E. Bugeja ◽  
Alex Andrianopoulos

AbstractMicrobial pathogens have evolved many strategies to evade recognition by the host immune system, including the use of phagocytic cells as a niche within which to proliferate. Dimorphic pathogenic fungi employ an induced morphogenetic transition, switching from multicellular hyphae to unicellular yeast that are more compatible with intracellular growth. A switch to mammalian host body temperature (37 °C) is a key trigger for the dimorphic switch. This study describes a novel gene, msgA, from the dimorphic fungal pathogen Talaromyces marneffei that controls cell morphology in response to host cues rather than temperature. The msgA gene is upregulated during murine macrophage infection, and deletion results in aberrant yeast morphology solely during growth inside macrophages. MsgA contains a Dbl homology domain, and a Bin, Amphiphysin, Rvs (BAR) domain instead of a Plekstrin homology domain typically associated with guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). The BAR domain is crucial in maintaining yeast morphology and cellular localisation during infection. The data suggests that MsgA does not act as a canonical GEF during macrophage infection and identifies a temperature independent pathway in T. marneffei that controls intracellular yeast morphogenesis.


Gene Therapy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bianca Ferrarini Zanetti ◽  
Camila Pontes Ferreira ◽  
José Ronnie Carvalho Vasconcelos ◽  
Sang Won Han
Keyword(s):  
Gm Csf ◽  

2001 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Riopel ◽  
MiFong Tam ◽  
Karkada Mohan ◽  
Michael W. Marino ◽  
Mary M. Stevenson

ABSTRACT The contribution of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), a hematopoietic and immunoregulatory cytokine, to resistance to blood-stage malaria was investigated by infecting GM-CSF-deficient (knockout [KO]) mice with Plasmodium chabaudi AS. KO mice were more susceptible to infection than wild-type (WT) mice, as evidenced by higher peak parasitemia, recurrent recrudescent parasitemia, and high mortality. P. chabaudiAS-infected KO mice had impaired splenomegaly and lower leukocytosis but equivalent levels of anemia compared to infected WT mice. Both bone marrow and splenic erythropoiesis were normal in infected KO mice. However, granulocyte-macrophage colony formation was significantly decreased in these tissues of uninfected and infected KO mice, and the numbers of macrophages in the spleen and peritoneal cavity were significantly lower than in infected WT mice. Serum levels of gamma interferon (IFN-γ) were found to be significantly higher in uninfected KO mice, and the level of this cytokine was not increased during infection. In contrast, IFN-γ levels were significantly above normal levels in infected WT mice. During infection, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) levels were significantly increased in KO mice and were significantly higher than TNF-α levels in infected WT mice. Our results indicate that GM-CSF contributes to resistance to P. chabaudi AS infection and that it is involved in the development of splenomegaly, leukocytosis, and granulocyte-macrophage hematopoiesis. GM-CSF may also regulate IFN-γ and TNF-α production and activity in response to infection. The abnormal responses seen in infected KO mice may be due to the lack of GM-CSF during development, to the lack of GM-CSF in the infected mature mice, or to both.


2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (4) ◽  
pp. 1439-1449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giusi Prencipe ◽  
Ivan Caiello ◽  
Antonia Pascarella ◽  
Alexei A. Grom ◽  
Claudia Bracaglia ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daimon P. Simmons ◽  
Hung N. Nguyen ◽  
Emma Gomez-Rivas ◽  
Yunju Jeong ◽  
Antonia F. Chen ◽  
...  

AbstractMacrophages regulate protective immune responses to infectious microbes, but aberrant macrophage activation frequently drives pathological inflammation. To identify regulators of vigorous macrophage activation, we analyzed RNA-seq data from synovial macrophages and identified SLAMF7 as a receptor associated with a super-activated macrophage state in rheumatoid arthritis. We implicated IFN-γ as a key regulator of SLAMF7 expression. Engaging this receptor drove an exuberant wave of inflammatory cytokine expression, and induction of TNF-α following SLAMF7 engagement amplified inflammation through an autocrine signaling loop. We observed SLAMF7-induced gene programs not only in macrophages from rheumatoid arthritis patients, but in gut macrophages from active Crohn’s disease patients and lung macrophages from severe COVID-19 patients. This suggests a central role for SLAMF7 in macrophage super-activation with broad implications in pathology.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingzhi Zhang ◽  
Jiatiao Jiang ◽  
Tianjian Hu ◽  
Jin Zhang ◽  
Xiaohong Liu ◽  
...  

AbstractEdwardsiella piscicida(E. piscicida) is an intracellular pathogen within a broad spectrum of hosts. Essential toE. piscicidavirulence is its ability to survive and replicate inside host cells, yet the underlying mechanisms and the nature of the replicative compartment remain unclear. Here, we characterized its intracellular lifestyle in non-phagocytic cells and showed that intracellular replication ofE. piscicidain non-phagocytic cells is dependent on its type III secretion system. Following internalization,E. piscicidais contained in vacuoles that transiently mature into early endosomes, but subsequently bypasses the classical endosome pathway and fusion with lysosomes which depends on its T3SS. Following a rapid escape from the degradative pathway,E. piscicidawas found to create a specialized replication-permissive niche characterized by endoplasmic reticulum (ER) markers. We also found that a T3SS effector EseJ is responsible for intracellular replication ofE. piscicidaby preventing endosome/lysosome fusion. Furthermore,in vivoexperiments confirmed that EseJ is necessary for bacterial colonization ofE. piscicidain both mice and zebrafish. Thus, this work elucidates the strategies used byE. piscicidato survive and proliferate within host non-phagocytic cells.Author summaryE. piscicidais a facultative intracellular bacterium associated with septicemia and fatal infections in many animals, including fish and humans. However, little is known about its intracellular life, which is important for successful invasion of the host. The present study is the first comprehensive characterization ofE. piscicida’s intracellular life-style in host cells. Upon internalization,E. piscicidais transiently contained in Rab5-positive vacuoles, but the pathogen prevents further endosome maturation and fusion with lysosomes by utilizing an T3SS effector EseJ. In addition, the bacterium creates an specialized replication niche for rapid growth via an interaction with the ER. Our study provides new insights into the strategies used byE. piscicidato successfully establishes an intracellular lifestyle that contributes to its survival and dissemination during infection.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin-Ho Joo ◽  
Hyejee Kim ◽  
Jae-Ho Shin ◽  
Sang Woong Moon

Abstract Background To identify disease-specific cytokine and growth factor profile differences in the aqueous humor between wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients and age-matched controls and to correlate their levels with the optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings. Methods Aqueous humors were obtained from 13 wet AMD eyes and 10 control eyes. Twenty cytokines and growth factors were measured using a RayBio antibody microarray technology in wet AMD and control eyes. Results The samples obtained from wet AMD patients exhibited a significantly increased expression of MCP-1, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Subretinal fluid (SRF) patients showed significantly lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1α and GM-CSF, than those without SRF. Pigment epithelial detachments (PED) patients showed lower levels of inflammatory cytokines, such as GM-CSF, IFN-γ, and TNF-α, than those without PED. Subretinal tissue (SRT) patients showed a higher level of IFN-γ than those without SRT. Compared with the controls, type 1 macular neovascularization (MNV) patients showed increased levels of MCP-1, MIP-1α, and MIP-1β, but not VEGF (p = 0.083). However, type 2 MNV patients showed increased levels of MCP-1 and VEGF (p = 0.040 and p = 0.040). Conclusion Inflammatory cytokines varied according to the type of AMD- and OCT-based parameters. Our observation of low levels of VEGF in patients with type 1 MNV implies that the inhibition of VEGF alone appears to be insufficient treatment for these patients and that cytokines such as MCP-1, MIP-1α, and MIP-1β should be modulated. And the presence of SRF in MNV may be associated with a positive prognosis because we found relatively low levels of proinflammatory cytokines.


1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 474-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tilman Heise ◽  
Luca G. Guidotti ◽  
Victoria J. Cavanaugh ◽  
Francis V. Chisari

ABSTRACT Hepatitis B virus (HBV) gene expression is downregulated in the liver of HBV transgenic mice by a posttranscriptional mechanism that is triggered by the local production of gamma interferon (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) during intrahepatic inflammation (hepatitis). The molecular basis for this antiviral effect is unknown. In this study, we identified three HBV RNA-binding liver nuclear proteins (p45, p39, and p26) the relative abundance of which correlates with the abundance of HBV RNA in response to the induction of IFN-γ and TNF-α. All three proteins bind to a 91-bp element located at the 5′ end of a previously defined posttranscriptional regulatory element that is thought to mediate the nuclear export of HBV RNA. The presence of p45 correlates directly with the presence of HBV RNA, being detectable under baseline conditions when the viral RNA is abundant and undetectable when the viral RNA disappears in response to IFN-γ and TNF-α. In contrast, p26 is inversely related to HBV RNA, being detectable only when the viral RNA disappears following cytokine activation. Finally, p39 is constitutively expressed, and its abundance and mobility appear to be slightly increased by cytokine activation. These results suggest a model in which hepatocellular HBV RNA content might be controlled by the stabilizing and/or destabilizing influences of these RNA-binding proteins whose activity is regulated by cytokine-induced signaling pathways.


2016 ◽  
Vol 213 (5) ◽  
pp. 809-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yancheng Liu ◽  
Shumin Tan ◽  
Lu Huang ◽  
Robert B. Abramovitch ◽  
Kyle H. Rohde ◽  
...  

Successful chemotherapy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) must eradicate the bacterium within the context of its host cell. However, our understanding of the impact of this environment on antimycobacterial drug action remains incomplete. Intriguingly, we find that Mtb in myeloid cells isolated from the lungs of experimentally infected mice exhibit tolerance to both isoniazid and rifampin to a degree proportional to the activation status of the host cells. These data are confirmed by in vitro infections of resting versus activated macrophages where cytokine-mediated activation renders Mtb tolerant to four frontline drugs. Transcriptional analysis of intracellular Mtb exposed to drugs identified a set of genes common to all four drugs. The data imply a causal linkage between a loss of fitness caused by drug action and Mtb’s sensitivity to host-derived stresses. Interestingly, the environmental context exerts a more dominant impact on Mtb gene expression than the pressure on the drugs’ primary targets. Mtb’s stress responses to drugs resemble those mobilized after cytokine activation of the host cell. Although host-derived stresses are antimicrobial in nature, they negatively affect drug efficacy. Together, our findings demonstrate that the macrophage environment dominates Mtb’s response to drug pressure and suggest novel routes for future drug discovery programs.


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