Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, United States.
Center for Conservation Genomics, Smithsonian National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, Washington, United States.
Elife. 2024 Jul 31;12:RP92168. doi: 10.7554/eLife.92168.
Global amphibian declines are compounded by deadly disease outbreaks caused by the chytrid fungus, (). Much has been learned about the roles of amphibian skin-produced antimicrobial components and microbiomes in controlling , yet almost nothing is known about the roles of skin-resident immune cells in anti- defenses. Mammalian mast cells reside within and serve as key immune sentinels in barrier tissues like skin. Accordingly, we investigated the roles of frog mast cells during infections. Our findings indicate that enrichment of skin mast cells confers anti- protection and ameliorates the inflammation-associated skin damage caused by infection. This includes a significant reduction in infiltration of -infected skin by neutrophils, promoting mucin content within cutaneous mucus glands, and preventing -mediated changes to skin microbiomes. Mammalian mast cells are known for their production of the pleiotropic interleukin-4 (IL4) cytokine and our findings suggest that the IL4 plays a key role in manifesting the effects seen following cutaneous mast cell enrichment. Together, this work underscores the importance of amphibian skin-resident immune cells in anti- defenses and illuminates a novel avenue for investigating amphibian host-chytrid pathogen interactions.
由真菌引起的致命性疾病暴发加剧了全球两栖动物的衰退，（）。人们已经了解了两栖动物皮肤产生的抗菌成分和微生物组在控制方面的作用，但对于皮肤驻留免疫细胞在抗感染防御中的作用几乎一无所知。哺乳动物肥大细胞存在于皮肤等屏障组织中，并作为关键的免疫哨兵。因此，我们研究了青蛙肥大细胞在感染期间的作用。我们的研究结果表明，皮肤肥大细胞的富集赋予了抗感染保护，并减轻了感染引起的炎症相关皮肤损伤。这包括显著减少感染皮肤中中性粒细胞的浸润，促进皮肤黏液腺中粘蛋白的含量，并防止感染介导的皮肤微生物组的变化。众所周知，哺乳动物肥大细胞会产生多效性白细胞介素-4（IL4）细胞因子，我们的研究结果表明，IL4 在表现皮肤肥大细胞富集后出现的影响方面发挥着关键作用。总的来说，这项工作强调了两栖动物皮肤驻留免疫细胞在抗感染防御中的重要性，并为研究两栖动物宿主-真菌病原体相互作用开辟了一条新途径。
