Biofilm from a clinical strain of Cryptococcus neoformans activates the NLRP3 inflammasome

• Published in: Cell research 2013-07, Vol.23 (7), p.965-968
• Main Authors: Lei, Guowei, Chen, Mingkuan, Li, Hua, Niu, Jun-Ling, Wu, Shuxian, Mao, Liming, Lu, Ailing, Wang, Hongbin, Chen, Wei, Xu, Bin, Leng, Qibin, Xu, Cunshuan, Yang, Guiwen, An, Liguo, Zhu, Li-Ping, Meng, Guangxun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/250/256/2177; 631/326/46; 631/80/86; 692/699/255/1672; Biofilms; Biofilms - growth & development; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carrier Proteins - metabolism; Cell Biology; Cell Line; Cryptococcus neoformans - immunology; Cryptococcus neoformans - pathogenicity; Humans; Inflammasomes - metabolism; Interleukin-1beta - metabolism; Letter to the Editor; Life Sciences; NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein; 临床; 器官移植; 激活; 生物膜; 真菌病原体; 脑膜脑炎; 菌株; 隐球菌
• ISSN: 1001-0602; 1748-7838
• DOI: 10.1038/cr.2013.49

Dear Editor, Many opportunistic fungi are devastating pathogens that cause lethal infection. Cryptococcus neoformans （C. neoformans） is such a fungus that mainly infects im- munocompromised hosts such as AIDS patients as well as organ transplant recipients, and causes cryptococco- sis including life-threatening meningoencephalitis [1]. Cryptococcal meningitis affects about a million AIDS patients and causes 625 000 deaths in the world yearly [2]. The disease also occurs in apparently immunocompetent individuals [3]. However, host immune responses to C. neoformans are not well studied.