Published in

American Society for Microbiology, mBio, 1(10), 2019

DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02221-18

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Candidalysin Crucially Contributes to Nlrp3 Inflammasome Activation by Candida albicans Hyphae

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Candidiasis is a potentially lethal condition that is caused by systemic dissemination of Candida albicans , a common fungal commensal residing mostly on mucosal surfaces. The transition of C. albicans from an innocuous commensal to an opportunistic pathogen goes hand in hand with its morphological transformation from a fungus to a hyphal appearance. On the one hand, the latter manifestation enables C. albicans to penetrate tissues, while on the other hand, the expression of many hypha-specific genes also endows it with the capacity to trigger particular cytokine responses. The Nlrp3 inflammasome is a crucial component of the innate immune system that provokes release of the IL-1β cytokine from myeloid cells upon encountering C. albicans hyphae. Our study reveals the peptide candidalysin as one of the hypha-derived drivers of Nlrp3 inflammasome responses in primary macrophages and, thus, contributes to better understanding the fungal mechanisms that determine the pathogenicity of C. albicans .