Metabolic competition between host and pathogen dictates inflammasome responses to fungal infection.

ABSTRACT: The NLRP3 inflammasome has emerged as a central immune regulator that senses virulence factors expressed by microbial pathogens for triggering inflammation. Inflammation can be harmful and therefore this response must be tightly controlled. The mechanisms by which immune cells, such as macrophages, discriminate benign from pathogenic microbes to control the NLRP3 inflammasome remain poorly defined. Here we used live cell imaging coupled with a compendium of diverse clinical isolates to define how macrophages respond and activate NLRP3 when faced with the human yeast commensal and pathogen Candida albicans. We show that metabolic competition by C. albicans, rather than virulence traits such as hyphal formation, activates NLRP3 in macrophages. Inflammasome activation is triggered by glucose

SUBMITTER: Tucey TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7433900 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature