Studies of IL-8 transcriptional levels in lung epithelial cells during Paracoccidioides spp infection

• Grant number: 24/06956-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Erika Suzuki de Toledo
• Grantee: Olívia Fukuda
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is an endemic systemic mycosis with prevalence in Latin America, mainly in Brazil, caused by thermodimorphic fungi species of the genus Paracoccidioides. Infection occurs through the inhalation of conidia from the mycelial environmental phase of the fungus, which differentiate into yeasts in the host's lungs. Lung epithelial cells play an important role in modulating the immune system through the secretion of inflammatory mediators. Our group found that different species of the genus Paracoccidioides, and their conditioned media, can promote different levels of secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-8 by lung epithelial cells, indicating that each species can induce a distinct response in the host cell. Considering that protein levels of IL-8 in culture supernatants of epithelial cells infected with Paracoccidioides result from the secretion and degradation of this cytokine by fungal proteases, the main objective of the present project is to investigate by RT-qPCR the transcriptional modulation of IL-8 in A549 human lung epithelial cells promoted by conditioned media or yeasts from P. brasiliensis or P. lutzii. The importance of fungal proteases in this modulation will also be analyzed.