Transcriptomic analysis reveals that mTOR pathway can be modulated in macrophage cells by the presence of cryptococcal cells

• Autor(a) principal: Piffer, Alicia Corbellini
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Santos, Francine Melise dos, Thomé, Marcos Paulo, Rosa, Camila Diehl da, Garcia, Ane Wichine Acosta, Kinskovski, Uriel Perin, Schneider, Rafael de Oliveira, Gerber, Alexandra Lehmkuhl, Feltes, Bruno César, Schrank, Augusto, Vasconcelos, Ana Tereza Ribeiro de, Lenz, Guido, Silva, Lívia Kmetzsch Rosa e, Vainstein, Marilene Henning, Staats, Charley Christian
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFRGS
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10183/267824
• topic: Cryptococcus neoformans; Cryptococcus gattii; Macrófagos; RNA; Macrophage; Cryptococcus; RNAseq; mTOR pathway; Interatomic networks

Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii are the etiological agents of cryptococcosis, a high mortality disease. The development of such disease depends on the interaction of fungal cells with macrophages, in which they can reside and replicate. In order to dissect the molecular mechanisms by which cryptococcal cells modulate the activity of macrophages, a genome-scale comparative analysis of transcriptional changes in macrophages exposed to Cryptococcus spp. was conducted. Altered expression of nearly 40 genes was detected in macrophages exposed to cryptococcal cells. The major processes were associated with the mTOR pathway, whose associated genes exhibited decreased expression in macrophages incubated with cryptococcal cells. Phosphorylation of p70S6K and GSK-3β was also decreased in macrophages incubated with fungal cells. In this way, Cryptococci presence could drive the modulation of mTOR pathway in macrophages possibly to increase the survival of the pathogen.