Pre-exposure to Candida glabrata protects Galleria mellonella against subsequent lethal fungal infections

Virulence

Xiao-Wen Huang¹  Kang Zeng¹  Huan-Xin Zheng¹  Mei-Nian Xu¹  Li Li¹  Meng-Lei Wang¹  De-Dong Li² 

[1] Department of Dermatology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Chin;Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, US;Central Laboratory, Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, Chin;

关键词: Candida glabrata;    Galleria mellonella;    innate immunity;    hemocytes;    immune priming;   

DOI  :  10.1080/21505594.2020.1848107

来源: Taylor & Francis

【 摘 要 】

Commensal fungi are an important part of human microbial community, among which Candida albicans and Candida glabrata are two common opportunistic pathogens. Unlike the high pathogenicity of C. albicans, C. glabrata is reported to show low pathogenicity to the host. Here, by using a Galleria mellonella infection model, we were able to confirm the much lower virulence of C. glabrata than C. albicans. Interestingly, pre-exposure to live C. glabrata (LCG) protects the larvae against subsequent various lethal fungal infections, including C. albicans, Candida tropicalis, and Cryptococcus neoformans. Inconsistently, heat-inactivated C. glabrata (HICG) pre-exposure can only protect against C. albicans or C. tropicalis re-infection, but not C. neoformans. Mechanistically, LCG or HICG pre-exposure enhanced the fungicidal activity of hemocytes against C. albicans or C. tropicalis. Meanwhile, LCG pre-exposure enhanced the humoral immunity by modulating the expression of fungal defending proteins in the cell-free hemolymph, which may contribute to the protection against C. neoformans. Together, this study suggests the important role of C. glabrata in enhancing host immunity, and demonstrates the great potential of G. mellonella model in studying the innate immune responses against infections.

【 授权许可】

CC BY