Dectin-1 mRNA expression in lung of different immune status mice infected with Aspergillus fumigatus

Abstract

Objective To study dectin-1 mRNA expression in lung of different immune status mice infected with Aspergillusfumigatus, and to explore the influence of immunosuppressive agent on the expression of dectin-1 and its relationship with the progression of disease. Methods Mice were divided into four groups which were normal control, immuncompromised, immuncompromised with A.fumigatus inoculation and immuncompetent with A.fumigatus inoculation groups. We explored the kinetic mRNA expression of dectin-1 in lung of different groups by real-time quantitative PCR. Pulmonary fungal burden assessment was performed to reflect the progressing of disease during the experimental time course. Results On day 3 after inoculation, pulmonary fungal burden of the immuncompromised mice was higher than that of the immuncompetent group. On day 1 and 3, dectin-I mRNA expression in lung of the immuncompromised group was much lower than that of the normal control. On day 3, dectin-1 mRNA expression in lung of the immuncompetent mice infected with A.fumigatus was much higher than that of the immuncompromised with A.fumigatus inoculation and the normal control groups ( P < 0.05 ). Conclusion During the infection, expression of dectin-1 in lung of the immuncompetent group was strikingly increased, which may play an important role on the defence to A.fumigatus invasion. Cyclophosphamide inhibited the expression of dectin-1 in lung of mice which may be one of the mechanisms of the invasive pulmonary aspergillosis development induced by eyclophosphamide. Key words: Aspergillusfumigatus; Cyclophosphamide; Dectin-1; Real-time PCR