Project description:β-glucans, which can activate innate immune responses, are a major component in the cell wall of the cyst form of Pneumocystis. In the current study we examined whether β-1,3 glucans are masked by surface proteins in Pneumocystis, and what role β-glucans play in Pneumocystis-associated inflammation. For 3 species, including P. jirovecii, which causes Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in humans, P. carinii, and P. murina, β-1,3 glucans were masked in most organisms, as demonstrated by increased exposure following trypsin treatment. Using Q-PCR and microarray techniques, we demonstrated in a mouse model of PCP that treatment with caspofungin, an inhibitor of β-1,3 glucan synthesis, for 21 days, decreased expression of a broad panel of inflammatory markers, including IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and multiple chemokines/chemokine ligands. Thus, β-glucans in Pneumocystis cysts are largely masked, which likely decreases innate immune activation; this mechanism presumably was developed for interactions with immunocompetent hosts, in whom organism loads are substantially lower. In immunosuppressed hosts with a high organism burden, organism death and release of glucans appears to be an important contributor to deleterious host inflammatory responses.
Project description:Type I IFN-signaling suppresses an excessive IFN-{gamma} response and prevents lung damage and chronic inflammation following Pneumocystis (PC)-infection and clearance in CD4 T cell-competent mice. Type I IFN -signaling in pulmonary CD11c+ DCs and alveolar macrophages may prevent chronic inflammation following PC lung infection and clearance by suppressing an excessive IFN-g-response via the induction of SOCS1. IFNAR-/- and wildtype mice were both Pneumocystis infected via itratracheal instillation. Pulmonary CD11c+ cells were isolated from collagen digested lungs at day 7 and day 14 post infection from both wildtype and IFNAR-/- mice using a magnetic cell sorting technique from Miltenyi with CD11c microbeads. Cells from three individual animals per group were isolated and assessed. Comparison of 2 treatment types at 2 timepoints to determine whether type I IFN signaling is initiated in resident and early recruited pulmonary CD11c+ cells following Pneumocystis lung infection and whether this is relevant to the outcome of the inflammatory response during the initiation of clearance.
Project description:Pneumocystis pneumonia is an opportunistic pneumonia that has been increasing in non-HIV patients in recent years. To obtain a better understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in disease pathogenesis, we profile the transcriptomes of mouse lungs with Pneumocystis pneumonia and from uninfected control subjects using single-cell RNA sequencing, yielding multiple populations of myeloid cells, T cells and B cells. We uncover a PCP-associated TREM2+ subpopulation of interstitial macrophages, which expands in PCP, differentiates from Ly6C+ monocytes. We also define the subsets of effector CD4+ T cells that expand after the infection of Pneumocystis. Finally, intercellular crosstalk between interstitial macrophages and effector CD4+ T cells via multiple ligand and receptor interactions reveals several anti-pneumocystis pathways. Our work dissects unanticipated aspects of the cellular and molecular basis of Pneumocystis pneumonia at a single-cell level, and provides a conceptual framework for the discovery of rational therapeutic targets in Pneumocystis pneumonia.
2021-03-26 | GSE157627 | GEO
Project description:Transcriptome of Pneumocystis jirovecii during human Pneumocystis pneumonia
Project description:Pneumocystis pneumonia is the most common serious opportunistic infection in patients with HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, Pneumocystis pneumonia is a feared complication of the immunosuppressive drug regimens used to treat autoimmunity, malignancy, and post-transplantation rejection. With an increasing at-risk population, there is a strong need for novel approaches to discover diagnostic and vaccine targets. There are multiple challenges to finding these targets, however. First, Pneumocystis has a largely unannotated genome. To address this, we evaluated each protein encoded within the Pneumocystis genome to that of other fungi using NCBI Blast. Second, Pneumocystis relies on a multiphasic life cycle, as both the transmissible form, the ascus, and the replicative form, the troph, reside within the alveolar space of the host. Towards that end, we purified asci and trophs from Pneumocystis murina and utilized transcriptomics to identify differentially regulated genes. Two such genes, Arp9 and Sp, are differentially regulated in the ascus and the troph, respectively, and can be utilized to characterize the state of the Pneumocystis life cycle in vivo. Gsc1, a β-1,3-glucan synthase with a large extracellular domain previously identified using surface proteomics, was more highly expressed on the ascus form of Pneumocystis. GSC-1 ectodomain immunization generated a strong antibody response capable of recognizing the surface of the Pneumocystis asci. GSC-1 ectodomain immunization was also capable of reducing ascus burden following primary challenge with Pneumocystis murina. Finally, mice immunized with the GSC-1 ectodomain had limited burden following natural transmission of Pneumocystis using a co-housing model. Pneumocystis asci and trophs were separated via flow cytometry and the transcriptome was sequenced, allowing to further understand the differential expression of various RNA transcripts. These data can be mined for life-form specific diagnostics and therapeutic targets.
2019-08-24 | GSE136100 | GEO
Project description:Pneumocystis murina Promotes Inflammasome Formation and NETosis during Pneumocystis Pneumonia
Project description:Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a disease of diverse etiology. While primary PH can develop in the absence of prior disease, PH more commonly develops in conjunction with other pulmonary pathologies. We previously reported a mouse model in which PH occurs as a sequelae of Pneumocystis infection in the context of transient CD4 depletion. Here, we demonstrate that instead of the expected Th2 pathways, the Th1 cytokine IFN-M-NM-3 was essential for the development of PH, as wild type mice developed PH, but not IFN-M-NM-3 knockout mice. Because gene expression analysis showed few strain differences that were not immune function related, we focused on those responses as potential pathologic mechanisms. While there were several differences in cellular and cytokine response that warrant further examination, we focused on three important aspects. First, if CD4 cells were continuously depleted, but the infection was limited by antibiotic treatment, then PH did not occur, confirming that CD4 T-cells are required for PH development. Second, although CD8 T-cells are implicated in the pathology of unabated Pneumocystis pneumonia, they did not have a role in the onset of PH. Finally, although there are differences in the amounts of the pulmonary immune cells, differences existed in phenotypes of immune cells that correlated with PH, such as elevated CD204 expression in lung CD11c+ cells. Two groups of BALB/c mice (3 per group) were infected i.t. with 10e7 Pneumocystis; one of those groups also received 4 injections of CD4 T-cell depleting antibodies beginning 3 days prior to infection and ending 7 days after infection. A third group was IFN-gamma knockout mice infected with Pneumocystis and depleted of CD4 cells in the same way. A fourth group of control non-treated BALB/c mice were also used. AT 38 days post infection, lung tissues were taken, and RNA was extracted to allow for differential gene expression analysis
Project description:In wild-type mice, expression of chemokines that are ligands for Ccr2, Cxcr3, and Cxcr2 increased at days 32 to 41 post-infection, with a return to baseline by day 75. Concomitant increases were seen in Ccr2 and Cxcr3 but not in Cxcr2 expression. Induction of these same factors also occurred in CD40-ligand and CD40 knockout mice but only at a much later time-point, during uncontrolled Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). Expression of CD4 Th1 markers was increased in wild-type mice during clearance of infection. Ccr2 and Cx3cr1 knockout mice cleared Pneumocystis infection with kinetics similar to wild-type mice, and all animals developed anti-Pneumocystis antibodies. Upregulation of Ccr2 and Cxcr3 and their ligands supports an important role for T helper cells and mononuclear phagocytes in the clearance of Pneumocystis infection. However, based on the current and prior studies, no single chemokine receptor appears to be critical to the clearance of Pneumocystis.
Project description:In wild-type mice, expression of chemokines that are ligands for Ccr2, Cxcr3, and Cxcr2 increased at days 32 to 41 post-infection, with a return to baseline by day 75. Concomitant increases were seen in Ccr2 and Cxcr3 but not in Cxcr2 expression. Induction of these same factors also occurred in CD40-ligand and CD40 knockout mice but only at a much later time-point, during uncontrolled Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). Expression of CD4 Th1 markers was increased in wild-type mice during clearance of infection. Ccr2 and Cx3cr1 knockout mice cleared Pneumocystis infection with kinetics similar to wild-type mice, and all animals developed anti-Pneumocystis antibodies. Upregulation of Ccr2 and Cxcr3 and their ligands supports an important role for T helper cells and mononuclear phagocytes in the clearance of Pneumocystis infection. However, based on the current and prior studies, no single chemokine receptor appears to be critical to the clearance of Pneumocystis.