Improved survival of mice deficient in secretory immunoglobulin M following systemic infection with Cryptococcus neoformans.

ABSTRACT: Cryptococcus neoformans causes severe, and often fatal, disease (cryptococcosis) in immunocompromised patients, particularly in those with HIV/AIDS. Although resistance to cryptococcosis requires intact T-cell immunity, a possible role for antibody/B cells in protection against natural disease has not been definitively established. Previous studies of the antibody response to the C. neoformans capsular polysaccharide glucuronoxylomannan (GXM) have demonstrated that patients who are at increased risk for cryptococcosis have lower serum levels of GXM-reactive IgM than those who are not at risk, leading to the hypothesis that IgM might contribute to resistance to cryptococcosis. To determine the influence of IgM on susceptibility to systemic cryptococcosis in a murine model, we compared the s

SUBMITTER: Subramaniam KS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2798234 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature