Journal of Leukocyte Biology eBioscience full spectrum cell analysis
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


Originally published online as doi:10.1189/jlb.0307160 on July 26, 2007

Published online before print July 26, 2007
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
jlb.0307160v1
82/5/1136    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nisini, R.
Right arrow Articles by Cassone, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Nisini, R.
Right arrow Articles by Cassone, A.
(Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 2007;82:1136-1142.)
© 2007 by Society for Leukocyte Biology

β-Glucan of Candida albicans cell wall causes the subversion of human monocyte differentiation into dendritic cells

Roberto Nisini*,1, Antonella Torosantucci*, Giulia Romagnoli{dagger}, Paola Chiani, Simona Donati{dagger}, Maria Cristina Gagliardi*, Raffaela Teloni*, Valeria Sargentini*, Sabrina Mariotti*, Egidio Iorio{dagger} and Antonio Cassone*

* Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Parassitarie e Immunomediate; and
{dagger} Dipartimento Biologia Cellulare e Neuroscienze. Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

1 Correspondence: Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Parassitarie e Immunomediate, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Roma, Italy. E-mail: roberto.nisini{at}iss.it

The functional consequences of treating human monocytes with purified and chemically characterized Candida albicans β-glucan—a major microbial pathogen associated molecular pattern—on their differentiation into dendritic cells (DC) were investigated. We show here that β-glucan-treated monocytes differentiated into mature DC (Glu-MoDC) with altered phenotype and functional behavior, similarly to DC derived from C. albicans germ-tubes-infected monocytes (Gt-MoDC). They failed to express CD1a and to up-regulate CD80 and DR molecules. Moreover, they produced IL-10 but not IL-12 and primed naive T cells without inducing their functional polarization into effector cells. Since C. albicans β-glucan is a mixture of both β-(1,3) and β-(1,6) glucan, we investigated their relative contribution by the use of non-Candida β-glucan structural analogs. We found that high molecular weight (MW) glucans β–(1,6) pustulan and β-(1,3) curdlan totally mimicked the effect of C. albicans β-glucan, while the low MW β-(1,3) glucan laminarin did not have any effect. Because β-glucan is a common constituent of all fungi and is abundantly released in vivo during systemic fungal infection, this novel effect of β-glucan has potential implications for host-parasite relationship in candidiasis and other mycoses. In particular, our data suggest that β-glucan could bias noninfected, bystander monocytes, thus aggravating the general immunodeficiency, predisposing to systemic fungal infection.

Key Words: fungi • antigen presentation/processing • β-glucan structure







HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2007 by the Society for Leukocyte Biology.