A Zebrafish Model of Cryptococcal Infection Reveals Roles for Macrophages, Endothelial Cells, and Neutrophils in the Establishment and Control of Sustained Fungemia.

ABSTRACT: Cryptococcal meningoencephalitis is a fungal infection that predominantly affects immunocompromised patients and is uniformly fatal if left untreated. Timely diagnosis is difficult, and screening or prophylactic measures have generally not been successful. Thus, we need a better understanding of early, asymptomatic pathogenesis. Inhaled cryptococci must survive the host immune response, escape the lung, and persist within the bloodstream in order to reach and invade the brain. Here we took advantage of the zebrafish larval infection model to assess the process of cryptococcal infection and disease development sequentially in a single host. Using yeast or spores as infecting particles, we discovered that both cell types survived and replicated intracellularly and that both ultimately establ

SUBMITTER: Davis JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5038067 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature