Caging giants: Characterizing the molecular mechanisms of neutrophil swarming against Candida albicans hyphae.

ABSTRACT: Neutrophils utilize many mechanisms to restrict fungal growth. When phagocytosis occurs, neutrophils can create many toxic antimicrobials including reactive oxygen species and the products of myeloperoxidase. If a pathogen is too large to phagocytose, neutrophils can also resort to the release of neutrophil extracellular traps or it can engage in the behavior of "swarming," in which the recruitment and antimicrobial action of many neutrophils are coordinated against a single target. Here we optimized an assay to study the behavior of swarming directly against live Candida albicans hyphae. We find that hyphae are highly potent targets for inducing swarming behavior and that swarming is very effective at restricting hyphal growth. We provide insight into the initial interactions between the

SUBMITTER: Phillips TK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12256248 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature