Liliane Mukaremera, Keunsook K. Lee, Hector M. Mora-Montes, Neil A. R. Gow
Abstract
Candida albicans is a human opportunist pathogen that can grow as yeast, pseudohyphae, or true hyphae in vitro and in vivo, depending on environmental conditions. Reversible cellular morphogenesis is an important virulence factor that facilitates invasion of host tissues, escape from phagocytes, and dissemination in the blood stream. The innate immune system is the first line of defense against C. albicans infections and is influenced by recognition of wall components that vary in composition in different morphological forms. However, the relationship between cellular morphogenesis and immune recognition of this fungus is not fully understood. We therefore studied various vegetative cell types of C. albicans, singly and in combination, to assess the consequences of cellular morphogenesis on selected immune cytokine outputs from human monocytes. Hyphae stimulated proportionally lower levels of certain cytokines from monocytes per unit of cell surface area than yeast cells, but did not suppress cytokine response when copresented with yeast cells. Pseudohyphal cells induced intermediate cytokine responses. Yeast monomorphic mutants had elevated cytokine responses under conditions that otherwise supported filamentous growth and mutants of yeast and hyphal cells that were defective in cell wall mannosylation or lacking certain hypha-specific cell wall proteins could variably unmask or deplete the surface of immunostimulatory ligands. These observations underline the critical importance of C. albicans morphology and morphology-associated changes in the cell wall composition that affect both immune recognition and pathogenesis.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
11
3%
Other
31
9%
Unknown
133
38%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 August 2023.
All research outputs
#15,742,933
of 25,382,440 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in immunology
#15,386
of 31,531 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#182,388
of 331,588 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in immunology
#222
of 380 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,382,440 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 37th percentile – i.e., 37% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 31,531 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 8.4. This one is in the 47th percentile – i.e., 47% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 380 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 36th percentile – i.e., 36% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
