Institut Pasteur; Paris, France.
Virulence. 2010 May-Jun;1(3):185-7. doi: 10.4161/viru.1.3.11317.
Aspergillus fumigatus is the most ubiquitous and the most threatful airborne fungal pathogen. In the atmosphere, there is thousands of conidia/m (3) originating from more than hundred fungal genera, which enter the host through the respiratory system and are eliminated by the innate immune defences. But how do A. fumigatus conidia survive long enough in the lung withstanding the host killing reactions? We demonstrated recently the role of the spore-surface rodlet layer made up of hydrophobic protein (hydrophobin) in preventing their recognition by the immune system. Upon removal of this rodlet layer by chemical, genetic or biological means, the resulting morphotypes were immunostimulatory in effect, confirming the essentiality of the role of the rodlet layer for the fungal survival in vivo.
烟曲霉是最普遍和最具威胁性的空气传播真菌病原体。在大气中，有数千个分生孢子/m（3）源自一百多种真菌属，它们通过呼吸系统进入宿主，并被先天免疫防御系统消除。但是，烟曲霉分生孢子如何在肺部中长时间存活，抵御宿主的杀伤反应呢？我们最近证明了由疏水性蛋白（疏水蛋白）组成的孢子表面小刺层在防止其被免疫系统识别中的作用。通过化学、遗传或生物手段去除该小刺层后，产生的形态发生型具有免疫刺激性作用，这证实了小刺层对真菌在体内生存的重要性。
