β-1,3-glucan-lacking Aspergillus fumigatus mediates an efficient antifungal immune response by activating complement and dendritic cells.

ABSTRACT: Complement system and dendritic cells (DCs) form - beside neutrophils and macrophages - the first line of defense to combat fungal infections. Therefore, we here studied interactions of these first immune elements with Aspergillus fumigatus lacking ß-1,3-glucans (fks1_tetOn^rep under repressed conditions) to mechanistically explain the mode of action of echinocandins in more detail. Echinocandins are cell wall active agents blocking β-glucan synthase, making the A. fumigatus fks1_tetOn mutant a good model to study immune-modulatory actions of these drugs. We now demonstrate herein, that complement was activated to significantly higher levels by the fks1-deficient strain compared to its respective wild type. This enhanced covalent li

SUBMITTER: Steger M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8647855 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature