Mechanisms of balancing the immune response during cryptococcal meningoencephalitis

隐球菌性脑膜脑炎期间平衡免疫反应的机制

• 批准号: 10761918
• 负责人: Meiqing Shi
• 金额: $ 19.23万
• 依托单位: UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10761918
• 关键词: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; Address; Affect; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Brain; Brain Injuries; CD4 Positive T Lymphocytes; Cell secretion; Cells; Cellular Immunity; Cerebrospinal Fluid; Cessation of life; Clinical; Clinical Data; Coma; Cryptococcosis; Cryptococcus; Cryptococcus neoformans; Cryptococcus neoformans infection; Disease; Encephalitis; Equilibrium; FOXP3 gene; Genes; Genetic Polymorphism; Growth; HIV; HIV Seronegativity; HIV Seropositivity; HIV/AIDS; Human; Immune; Immune response; Immunity; Immunocompromised Host; Impairment; Individual; Infection; Inflammation; Inflammatory; Inflammatory Response; Inhalation; Interleukin-10; Life; Lung; Maintenance; Mediating; Meningoencephalitis; Microbe; Molecular; Mus; Mycoses; Outcome; Patients; Persons; Play; Predisposition; Production; Proliferating; Property; Regulation; Regulatory T-Lymphocyte; Role; Severities; Signal Transduction; Source; Syndrome; Testing; Therapeutic; antiretroviral therapy; blood-brain barrier crossing; brain size; cytokine; fungus; immune reconstitution; immunopathology; immunoregulation; improved; interleukin-10 receptor; mRNA Expression; migration; mortality; mouse model; pathogen; pathogenic fungus; prevent; receptor; response; therapeutic development

Project Summary Cryptococcosis is an opportunistic fungal infection that is caused by Cryptococcus neoformans and often occurs in immunocompromised individuals including HIV/AIDS patients. Although the infection starts in the lung via inhalation of the pathogenic fungus, the most common manifestation of cryptococcosis is meningoencephalitis, which is a leading cause of mortality of HIV/AIDS patients and accounts for proximately 181,000 deaths worldwide annually. The high susceptibility of HIV/AIDS patients to C. neoformans infection is attributed to their impaired cellular immunity. Consequently, C. neoformans proliferates in the brain without control, leading to microbe-mediated brain damage. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a major advance in treating HIV/AIDS patients by restoring cellular immune responses. However, after initiation of ART, up to 30% of HIV/AIDS patients with cryptococcosis develop immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), an aberrant excessive immune response leading to host-mediated brain damage. Furthermore, post-infectious inflammatory response syndrome (PIIRS) occurs frequently in HIV-negative patients with cryptococcal meningoencephalitis. Therefore, a robust immune response is required for controlling the fungal growth; however, the immune response must be tightly controlled to avoid host-mediated brain damage during cryptococcal meningoencephalitis. A critical gap in our understanding remains: what are the mechanisms of maintaining the balance between protective immune responses and immunopathology during cryptococcal meningoencephalitis-associated IRIS? IL-10 is an important cytokine with anti-inflammatory properties and its production was enhanced in the cerebrospinal fluid of HIV/AIDS patients during cryptococcal IRIS. Based on clinical data and our preliminary murine studies, we hypothesize that IL-10 is critically involved in balancing the immune responses during cryptococcal meningoencephalitis-associated IRIS. We will test the hypothesis in a murine model that closely mimics cryptococcal IRIS of HIV/AIDS patients, by addressing the following aims: (1) To determine the mechanism(s) involved in regulation of the immune responses by IL-10 during cryptococcal meningoencephalitis-associated IRIS; (2) To determine the mechanism(s) involved in induction of IL-10 in the brain during cryptococcal meningoencephalitis-associated IRIS. If successful, the findings from this study would be fundamental for understanding regulation of immune balance during cryptococcal meningoencephalitis-associated IRIS and provide scientific basis for targeting this cytokine aiming at controlling deleterious inflammation in the brain of cryptococcal IRIS/AIDS patients.

项目总结