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Survival in macrophages induces enhanced virulence in Cryptococcus
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Survival in macrophages induces enhanced virulence in Cryptococcus

Jacquelyn A Nielson, Andrew J Jezewski, Melanie Wellington and J Muse Davis
mSphere, Vol.9(1), e0050423
01/30/2024
DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00504-23
PMCID: PMC10826345
PMID: 38073033
url
https://doi.org/10.1128/msphere.00504-23View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Cryptococcosis begins in the lungs and can ultimately travel through the bloodstream to cause devastating infection in the central nervous system. In the zebrafish model, small amounts of cryptococcus inoculated into the bloodstream are initially phagocytosed and become far more capable of dissemination after they exit macrophages. Similarly, survival in the mouse lung produces cryptococcal cell types with enhanced dissemination. In this study, we have evaluated how phagocytosis changes the properties of during pathogenesis. Macrophage-experienced cells (MECs) become "licensed" for enhanced virulence. They out-disseminate culture-grown cells in the fish and out-compete non-MECs in the mouse lung. Analysis of their cell surface demonstrates that MECs have increased availability of cell wall components mannose and chitin substances involved in provoking phagocytosis. These findings suggest how might tune its cell surface to induce but survive repeated phagocytosis during early pathogenesis in the lung.
Macrophage phagocytosis capsule dissemination Cryptococcus

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