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Regulated Release of Cryptococcal Polysaccharide Drives Virulence and Suppresses Immune Cell Infiltration into the Central Nervous System

Cryptococcus neoformans is a common environmental yeast and opportunistic pathogen responsible for 15% of AIDS-related deaths worldwide. Mortality primarily results from meningoencephalitis, which occurs when fungal cells disseminate to the brain from the initial pulmonary infection site. A key C. n...

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Autores principales: Denham, Steven T., Verma, Surbhi, Reynolds, Raymond C., Worne, Colleen L., Daugherty, Joshua M., Lane, Thomas E., Brown, Jessica C. S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Microbiology 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5820953/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29203547
http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/IAI.00662-17
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author Denham, Steven T.
Verma, Surbhi
Reynolds, Raymond C.
Worne, Colleen L.
Daugherty, Joshua M.
Lane, Thomas E.
Brown, Jessica C. S.
author_facet Denham, Steven T.
Verma, Surbhi
Reynolds, Raymond C.
Worne, Colleen L.
Daugherty, Joshua M.
Lane, Thomas E.
Brown, Jessica C. S.
author_sort Denham, Steven T.
collection PubMed
description Cryptococcus neoformans is a common environmental yeast and opportunistic pathogen responsible for 15% of AIDS-related deaths worldwide. Mortality primarily results from meningoencephalitis, which occurs when fungal cells disseminate to the brain from the initial pulmonary infection site. A key C. neoformans virulence trait is the polysaccharide capsule. Capsule shields C. neoformans from immune-mediated recognition and destruction. The main capsule component, glucuronoxylomannan (GXM), is found both attached to the cell surface and free in the extracellular space (as exo-GXM). Exo-GXM accumulates in patient serum and cerebrospinal fluid at microgram/milliliter concentrations, has well-documented immunosuppressive properties, and correlates with poor patient outcomes. However, it is poorly understood whether exo-GXM release is regulated or the result of shedding during normal capsule turnover. We demonstrate that exo-GXM release is regulated by environmental cues and inversely correlates with surface capsule levels. We identified genes specifically involved in exo-GXM release that do not alter surface capsule thickness. The first mutant, the liv7Δ strain, released less GXM than wild-type cells when capsule was not induced. The second mutant, the cnag_00658Δ strain, released more exo-GXM under capsule-inducing conditions. Exo-GXM release observed in vitro correlated with polystyrene adherence, virulence, and fungal burden during murine infection. Additionally, we found that exo-GXM reduced cell size and capsule thickness under capsule-inducing conditions, potentially influencing dissemination. Finally, we demonstrated that exo-GXM prevents immune cell infiltration into the brain during disseminated infection and highly inflammatory intracranial infection. Our data suggest that exo-GXM performs a distinct role from capsule GXM during infection, altering cell size and suppressing inflammation.
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spelling pubmed-58209532018-03-05 Regulated Release of Cryptococcal Polysaccharide Drives Virulence and Suppresses Immune Cell Infiltration into the Central Nervous System Denham, Steven T. Verma, Surbhi Reynolds, Raymond C. Worne, Colleen L. Daugherty, Joshua M. Lane, Thomas E. Brown, Jessica C. S. Infect Immun Molecular Pathogenesis Cryptococcus neoformans is a common environmental yeast and opportunistic pathogen responsible for 15% of AIDS-related deaths worldwide. Mortality primarily results from meningoencephalitis, which occurs when fungal cells disseminate to the brain from the initial pulmonary infection site. A key C. neoformans virulence trait is the polysaccharide capsule. Capsule shields C. neoformans from immune-mediated recognition and destruction. The main capsule component, glucuronoxylomannan (GXM), is found both attached to the cell surface and free in the extracellular space (as exo-GXM). Exo-GXM accumulates in patient serum and cerebrospinal fluid at microgram/milliliter concentrations, has well-documented immunosuppressive properties, and correlates with poor patient outcomes. However, it is poorly understood whether exo-GXM release is regulated or the result of shedding during normal capsule turnover. We demonstrate that exo-GXM release is regulated by environmental cues and inversely correlates with surface capsule levels. We identified genes specifically involved in exo-GXM release that do not alter surface capsule thickness. The first mutant, the liv7Δ strain, released less GXM than wild-type cells when capsule was not induced. The second mutant, the cnag_00658Δ strain, released more exo-GXM under capsule-inducing conditions. Exo-GXM release observed in vitro correlated with polystyrene adherence, virulence, and fungal burden during murine infection. Additionally, we found that exo-GXM reduced cell size and capsule thickness under capsule-inducing conditions, potentially influencing dissemination. Finally, we demonstrated that exo-GXM prevents immune cell infiltration into the brain during disseminated infection and highly inflammatory intracranial infection. Our data suggest that exo-GXM performs a distinct role from capsule GXM during infection, altering cell size and suppressing inflammation. American Society for Microbiology 2018-02-20 /pmc/articles/PMC5820953/ /pubmed/29203547 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/IAI.00662-17 Text en Copyright © 2018 Denham et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Molecular Pathogenesis
Denham, Steven T.
Verma, Surbhi
Reynolds, Raymond C.
Worne, Colleen L.
Daugherty, Joshua M.
Lane, Thomas E.
Brown, Jessica C. S.
Regulated Release of Cryptococcal Polysaccharide Drives Virulence and Suppresses Immune Cell Infiltration into the Central Nervous System
title Regulated Release of Cryptococcal Polysaccharide Drives Virulence and Suppresses Immune Cell Infiltration into the Central Nervous System
title_full Regulated Release of Cryptococcal Polysaccharide Drives Virulence and Suppresses Immune Cell Infiltration into the Central Nervous System
title_fullStr Regulated Release of Cryptococcal Polysaccharide Drives Virulence and Suppresses Immune Cell Infiltration into the Central Nervous System
title_full_unstemmed Regulated Release of Cryptococcal Polysaccharide Drives Virulence and Suppresses Immune Cell Infiltration into the Central Nervous System
title_short Regulated Release of Cryptococcal Polysaccharide Drives Virulence and Suppresses Immune Cell Infiltration into the Central Nervous System
title_sort regulated release of cryptococcal polysaccharide drives virulence and suppresses immune cell infiltration into the central nervous system
topic Molecular Pathogenesis
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5820953/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29203547
http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/IAI.00662-17
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