新生隐球菌毒性因子研究进展

新生隐球菌为环境中的真菌,是引起免疫损伤患者脑膜脑炎的主要病原体。新生隐球菌有毒株能够快速适应宿主环境的诸多变化,改变基因/蛋白的表达,利用多种策略在宿主防御和治疗药物的压力下可塑性地适应和生存,并在宿主不同的组织器官中顽强生存,某些免疫系统完好的宿主也不能幸免。新生隐球菌应用伪装躲避识别、逃避固有免疫和适应性免疫应答、改变细胞内转运等手段使病原体穿越天然屏障在脑中生长/持续感染。了解其中的毒性因子在持续感染中的作用,有助于揭示新生隐球菌的致病机理。

Advances in Virulent Factors of Cryptococcus neoformans

Cryptococcus neoformans （Cn） is an environmental fungus ; it is predominant pathogen that causes meninguencephalitis in immuno-compromised patients. Virulent strain of Cn could rapidly adapt to many changes in the host＇ s surrounding environment by altering gene/protein expression. It could make use of multiple strategies to plasti- cally adapt and survive under the pressure of the host defenses and therapeutic medicaments, and indomitably survive within different organs and tissues; even the hosts with perfect immune system could not escape by sheer luck. Cn a- voids recognition by applying disguisement and escapes from innate immune and adaptive immune responses, altering intracallular transferring and other means to penetrate natural barriers to grow in the brain to infect steadily. Under- standing the role of virulent factors among the steady infection is helpful to reveal the pathogenic mechanism of Cn.