Journal Article

Lack of Galectin-3 Drives Response to Paracoccidioides brasiliensis toward a Th2-Biased Immunity

Fermino, Marise Lopes, Chammas, Roger, Roque-Barreira, Maria-Cristina, Hsu, Daniel K., de Oliveira, Leandro Licursi, Liu, Fu-Tong, Bernardes, Emerson Soares, Ruas, Luciana Pereira

2009

Overview

There is recent evidence that galectin-3 participates in immunity to infections, mostly by tuning cytokine production. We studied the balance of Th1/Th2 responses to P. brasiliensis experimental infection in the absence of galectin-3. The intermediate resistance to the fungal infection presented by C57BL/6 mice, associated with the development of a mixed type of immunity, was replaced with susceptibility to infection and a Th2-polarized immune response, in galectin-3-deficient (gal3(-/-)) mice. Such a response was associated with defective inflammatory and delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions, high IL-4 and GATA-3 expression and low nitric oxide production in the organs of infected animals. Gal3(-/-) macrophages exhibited higher TLR2 transcript levels and IL-10 production compared to wild-type macrophages after stimulation with P. brasiliensis antigens. We hypothesize that, during an in vivo P. brasiliensis infection, galectin-3 exerts its tuning role on immunity by interfering with the generation of regulatory macrophages, thus hindering the consequent Th2-polarized type of response.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Animals / Antigens / Candida albicans / Cytokines / Dendritic cells / Dermatology / Diseases / Experimental infection / Fungi / Galectin 3 - deficiency / Galectin 3 - immunology / Galectin-3 / GATA-3 protein / GATA3 Transcription Factor - analysis / Health aspects / Hypersensitivity / Hypersensitivity (delayed) / Immune response / Immune system / Immunity / Immunity, Cellular / Immunoglobulins / Immunology/Immunity to Infections / Immunology/Immunomodulation / Infections / Infectious Diseases/Fungal Infections / Inflammation / Interleukin 10 / Interleukin 4 / Interleukin-10 - analysis / Interleukin-4 - analysis / Lymphocytes T / Macrophages / Macrophages - immunology / Medical research / Mice / Mice, Inbred C57BL / Mice, Knockout / Nitric oxide / Nitric Oxide - analysis / Organs / Paracoccidioides / Paracoccidioides - immunology / Paracoccidioidomycosis - immunology / RNA, Messenger - analysis / Rodents / Studies / Th2 Cells - immunology / TLR2 protein / Toll-Like Receptor 2 - genetics / Toll-like receptors / Transcription / Tuning