title: Proinflammatory chemokines during Candida albicans keratitis.
abstract: Chemotactic cytokines mediate the recruitment of leukocytes into infected tissues. This study investigated the profile of chemokines during experimental Candida albicans keratitis and determined the effects of chemokine inhibition on leukocyte infiltration and fungal growth during murine keratomycosis. Scarified corneas of BALB/c mice were topically inoculated with C. albicans and monitored daily over one week for fungal keratitis. After a gene microarray for murine chemokines compared infected corneas to controls, real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunostaining assessed chemokine expression in infected and mock-inoculated corneas. An anti-chemokine antibody was then administered subconjunctivally and evaluated for effects on clinical severity, corneal inflammation, fungal recovery, and cytokine expression. Of 33 chemokine genes examined by microarray, 6 CC chemokines and 6 CXC chemokines were significantly (P<0.05) upregulated more than two-fold. Chemokine (CC-motif) ligand 3 (CCL3) was upregulated 108-fold (P=0.03) by real-time RT-PCR within one day after fungal inoculation and remained increased 28-fold (P=0.02) at one week, and its in situ expression increased in the epithelium and stroma of infected corneas. Compared to the control antibody-treated group, eyes treated with anti-CCL3 antibody showed reduced clinical severity (P<0.05), less corneal neovascularization (P=0.02), and fewer inflammatory cells infiltrating corneal tissue, but the amount of recoverable fungi was not significantly (P=0.4) affected. Anti-CCL3 treatment significantly (P=0.01) reduced the expression of tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-1beta in infected corneas. These results indicate that chemokines, especially the CC chemokine CCL3, play important roles in the acute inflammatory response to C. albicans corneal infection.
authors.affiliation: Sid W. Richardson Ocular Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Ophthalmology, Cullen Eye Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, 6565 Fannin St., Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoyong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.forename: Kirk R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Wilhelmus
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D002465:Cell Movement; D019742:Chemokines, CC / Q000235:genetics*; D019743:Chemokines, CXC / Q000235:genetics*; D003320:Corneal Ulcer / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D015821:Eye Infections, Fungal / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D019742:Chemokines, CC; D019743:Chemokines, CXC; D012333:RNA, Messenger