Showing papers by "Elio Cenci published in 1991"
TL;DR: The present data suggest that CSF-1 is likely to contribute to early resistance to fungal infection and could be successfully exploited in experimental models of antifungal immunotherapy.
Abstract: Serum and tissue concentrations of the macrophage-specific colony-stimulating factor (CSF-1) and the number of CSF-1-responsive cells in bone marrow were investigated in mice chronically infected with a low-virulence strain of the opportunistic zoopathogenic yeast Candida albicans. CSF-1 levels in serum, brain, kidney, liver, and lung were significantly increased shortly after infection and remained elevated during the 2 weeks preceding the onset of specific T cell-dependent immunity. The number of monocytic precursor cells was also increased in the bone marrow of infected mice. When macrophages from naive donors were exposed in vitro to purified murine CSF-1, their anticandidal activity in vitro appeared to be enhanced. CSF-1 was also administered in vivo to prospective recipients of a lethal C. albicans challenge. The results showed that the factor could effectively potentiate the animals' resistance to the yeast, as shown by increased survival times and reduced recovery of viable C. albicans from the organs of the CSF-1-treated mice. Therefore, the present data suggest that CSF-1 is likely to contribute to early resistance to fungal infection and could be successfully exploited in experimental models of antifungal immunotherapy.
86 citations
TL;DR: A precise role can reasonably be ascribed to these soluble factors in the observed augmentation of candidacidal activity as ascertained by treatment with IFN-gamma plus LPS.
Abstract: We investigated the in vitro candidacidal activity of alveolar macrophages (AM) and peripheral blood monocytes (PBM) from normal subjects or from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) displaying defective skin test delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactivity to seven antigens including Candida albicans. The results showed that cells from patients with COPD were significantly less effective than cells from control subjects in the killing of C. albicans. To explore whether the observed functional impairment could be reversed, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) was added to AM and PBM from patients with COPD, alone or in the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a suboptimal stimulus. The cells were cultured for 24 h and then assayed for anti-Candida activity. After IFN-γ treatment, the fungicidal activity of cells from patients with COPD was comparable to that of unstimulated AM or PBM from healthy donors. Treatment with IFN-γ plus LPS resulted in a further enhancement in the killing of C. a...
39 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that C. albicans infection stimulates multiple cytotoxic cell precursors with varying recognition stringency, which include MHC class I‐restricted, Ag‐specific cytot toxic T lymphocytes with cytotoxicity activity against infected macrophages could be identified.
Abstract: To determine whether antigen (Ag)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes are generated during experimental Candida albicans infection, purified L3T4+ and Ly-2+ lymphocytes from immunized mice were cultured in the presence of syngeneic accessory cells, C. albicans Ag, and interleukin 2. Yeast-infected bone marrow macrophages were used as target cells in a standard 51Cr-release assay. Freshly isolated L3T4+ and Ly-2+ lymphocytes failed to lyse either target cell type. However, Ag-specific, major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-unrestricted lysis of infected macrophages was evident with immune Ly-2+ cells after 7-10 days in culture. The cultured cells were greater than 98% Thy-1+, CD3+, L3T4-, Ly-2+, T cell receptor alpha/beta + T cells, and their lytic activity was potentiated by the addition of anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies. At limiting effector cell numbers, Ag-specific MHC-restricted lymphocytes with cytotoxic activity against infected macrophages could be identified. We suggest that C. albicans infection stimulates multiple cytotoxic cell precursors with varying recognition stringency, which include MHC class I-restricted, Ag-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes.
15 citations