Article
Pulmonary Fibrosis and Hypereosinophilia in TLR9-/- Mice Infected by Cryptococcus gattii
Registro en:
Silva Junior, Elias Barbosa da et al. Pulmonary Fibrosis and Hypereosinophilia in TLR9-/- Mice Infected by Cryptococcus gattii. Pathogens, v. 11, 987, p. 1 - 14, Aug. 2022.
2076-0817
10.3390/pathogens11090987
Autor
Silva Junior, Elias Barbosa da
Lima, Israel Diniz
Silva, Amanda Couto
Oliveira, Joyce Cristina Guimarães de
Morrot, Alexandre
Lima, Leonardo Freire de
Fonseca, Leonardo Marques da
Brito-Gitirana, Lycia de
Ricardo, Debora Decote
Guedes, Herbert Leonel de Matos
Lima, Celio Geraldo Freire de
Resumen
Abstract: Cryptococcus gattii is a worldwide-distributed basidiomycetous yeast that can infect immunocompetent
hosts. However, little is known about the mechanisms involved in the disease. The
innate immune response is essential to the control of infections by microorganisms. Toll-like receptor
9 (TLR9) is an innate immune receptor, classically described as a non-methylated DNA recognizer and
associated with bacteria, protozoa and opportunistic mycosis infection models. Previously, our group
showed that TLR9-/- mice were more susceptible to C. gattii after 21 days of infection. However, some
questions about the innate immunity involving TLR9 response against C. gattii remain unknown. In
order to investigate the systemic cryptococcal infection, we evaluated C57BL/6 mice and C57BL/6
TLR9-/- after intratracheal infection with 104 C. gattii yeasts for 21 days. Our data evidenced that
TLR9-/- was more susceptible to C. gattii. TLR9-/- mice had hypereosinophilia in pulmonary mixed
cellular infiltrate, severe bronchiolitis and vasculitis and type 2 alveolar cell hyperplasia. In addition,
TLR9-/- mice developed severe pulmonary fibrosis and areas with strongly birefringent fibers.
Together, our results corroborate the hypothesis that TLR9 is important to support the Th1/Th17
response against C. gattii infection in the murine experimental model.