title: Candida albicans Quorum Sensing Molecules Stimulate Mouse Macrophage Migration.
abstract: The polymorphic commensal fungus Candida albicans causes life-threatening disease via bloodstream and intra-abdominal infections in immunocompromised and transplant patients. Although host immune evasion is a common strategy used by successful human fungal pathogens, C. albicans provokes recognition by host immune cells less capable of destroying it. To accomplish this, C. albicans white cells secrete a low-molecular-weight chemoattractive stimulant(s) of macrophages, a phagocyte that they are able to survive within and eventually escape from. C. albicans opaque cells do not secrete this chemoattractive stimulant(s). We report here a physiological mechanism that contributes to the differences in the interaction of C. albicans white and opaque cells with macrophages. E,E-Farnesol, which is secreted by white cells only, is a potent stimulator of macrophage chemokinesis, whose activity is enhanced by yeast cell wall components and aromatic alcohols. E,E-farnesol results in up to an 8.5-fold increase in macrophage migration in vitro and promotes a 3-fold increase in the peritoneal infiltration of macrophages in vivo. Therefore, modulation of farnesol secretion to stimulate host immune recognition by macrophages may help explain why this commensal is such a successful pathogen.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hargarten
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
authors.forename: Tyler C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Petro
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Nickerson
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA aatkin1@unl.edu.
authors.forename: Audrey L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Atkin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D002465:Cell Movement; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002630:Chemotactic Factors / Q000276:immunology; D005204:Farnesol / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D053038:Quorum Sensing
chemical_list: D002630:Chemotactic Factors; D005204:Farnesol