TY - JOUR A1 - Lauruschkat, Chris D. A1 - Etter, Sonja A1 - Schnack, Elisabeth A1 - Ebel, Frank A1 - Schäuble, Sascha A1 - Page, Lukas A1 - Rümens, Dana A1 - Dragan, Mariola A1 - Schlegel, Nicolas A1 - Panagiotou, Gianni A1 - Kniemeyer, Olaf A1 - Brakhage, Axel A. A1 - Einsele, Hermann A1 - Wurster, Sebastian A1 - Loeffler, Juergen T1 - Chronic occupational mold exposure drives expansion of Aspergillus-reactive type 1 and type 2 T-helper cell responses JF - Journal of Fungi N2 - Occupational mold exposure can lead to Aspergillus-associated allergic diseases including asthma and hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Elevated IL-17 levels or disbalanced T-helper (Th) cell expansion were previously linked to Aspergillus-associated allergic diseases, whereas alterations to the Th cell repertoire in healthy occupationally exposed subjects are scarcely studied. Therefore, we employed functional immunoassays to compare Th cell responses to A. fumigatus antigens in organic farmers, a cohort frequently exposed to environmental molds, and non-occupationally exposed controls. Organic farmers harbored significantly higher A. fumigatus-specific Th-cell frequencies than controls, with comparable expansion of Th1- and Th2-cell frequencies but only slightly elevated Th17-cell frequencies. Accordingly, Aspergillus antigen-induced Th1 and Th2 cytokine levels were strongly elevated, whereas induction of IL-17A was minimal. Additionally, increased levels of some innate immune cell-derived cytokines were found in samples from organic farmers. Antigen-induced cytokine release combined with Aspergillus-specific Th-cell frequencies resulted in high classification accuracy between organic farmers and controls. Aspf22, CatB, and CipC elicited the strongest differences in Th1 and Th2 responses between the two cohorts, suggesting these antigens as potential candidates for future bio-effect monitoring approaches. Overall, we found that occupationally exposed agricultural workers display a largely balanced co-expansion of Th1 and Th2 immunity with only minor changes in Th17 responses. KW - mold exposure KW - immunoassay KW - biomarker KW - Aspergillus KW - cytokines KW - inflammation KW - adaptive immunity KW - hypersensitivity Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-245202 SN - 2309-608X VL - 7 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lauruschkat, Chris D. A1 - Page, Lukas A1 - White, P. Lewis A1 - Etter, Sonja A1 - Davies, Helen E. A1 - Duckers, Jamie A1 - Ebel, Frank A1 - Schnack, Elisabeth A1 - Backx, Matthijs A1 - Dragan, Mariola A1 - Schlegel, Nicolas A1 - Kniemeyer, Olaf A1 - Brakhage, Axel A. A1 - Einsele, Hermann A1 - Loeffler, Juergen A1 - Wurster, Sebastian T1 - Development of a simple and robust whole blood assay with dual co-stimulation to quantify the release of T-cellular signature cytokines in response to Aspergillus fumigatus antigens JF - Journal of Fungi N2 - Deeper understanding of mold-induced cytokine signatures could promote advances in the diagnosis and treatment of invasive mycoses and mold-associated hypersensitivity syndromes. Currently, most T-cellular immunoassays in medical mycology require the isolation of mononuclear cells and have limited robustness and practicability, hampering their broader applicability in clinical practice. Therefore, we developed a simple, cost-efficient whole blood (WB) assay with dual α-CD28 and α-CD49d co-stimulation to quantify cytokine secretion in response to Aspergillus fumigatus antigens. Dual co-stimulation strongly enhanced A. fumigatus-induced release of T-cellular signature cytokines detectable by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or a multiplex cytokine assay. Furthermore, T-cell-dependent activation and cytokine response of innate immune cells was captured by the assay. The protocol consistently showed little technical variation and high robustness to pre-analytic delays of up to 8 h. Stimulation with an A. fumigatus lysate elicited at least 7-fold greater median concentrations of key T-helper cell signature cytokines, including IL-17 and the type 2 T-helper cell cytokines IL-4 and IL-5 in WB samples from patients with Aspergillus-associated lung pathologies versus patients with non-mold-related lung diseases, suggesting high discriminatory power of the assay. These results position WB-ELISA with dual co-stimulation as a simple, accurate, and robust immunoassay for translational applications, encouraging further evaluation as a platform to monitor host immunity to opportunistic pathogens. KW - immunoassay KW - biomarker KW - Aspergillus KW - cytokines KW - inflammation KW - adaptive immunity Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-241025 SN - 2309-608X VL - 7 IS - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Belic, Stanislav A1 - Page, Lukas A1 - Lazariotou, Maria A1 - Waaga-Gasser, Ana Maria A1 - Dragan, Mariola A1 - Springer, Jan A1 - Loeffler, Juergen A1 - Morton, Charles Oliver A1 - Einsele, Hermann A1 - Ullmann, Andrew J. A1 - Wurster, Sebastian T1 - Comparative Analysis of Inflammatory Cytokine Release and Alveolar Epithelial Barrier Invasion in a Transwell® Bilayer Model of Mucormycosis JF - Frontiers in Microbiology N2 - Understanding the mechanisms of early invasion and epithelial defense in opportunistic mold infections is crucial for the evaluation of diagnostic biomarkers and novel treatment strategies. Recent studies revealed unique characteristics of the immunopathology of mucormycoses. We therefore adapted an alveolar Transwell® A549/HPAEC bilayer model for the assessment of epithelial barrier integrity and cytokine response to Rhizopus arrhizus, Rhizomucor pusillus, and Cunninghamella bertholletiae. Hyphal penetration of the alveolar barrier was validated by 18S ribosomal DNA detection in the endothelial compartment. Addition of dendritic cells (moDCs) to the alveolar compartment led to reduced fungal invasion and strongly enhanced pro-inflammatory cytokine response, whereas epithelial CCL2 and CCL5 release was reduced. Despite their phenotypic heterogeneity, the studied Mucorales species elicited the release of similar cytokine patterns by epithelial and dendritic cells. There were significantly elevated lactate dehydrogenase concentrations in the alveolar compartment and epithelial barrier permeability for dextran blue of different molecular weights in Mucorales-infected samples compared to Aspergillus fumigatus infection. Addition of monocyte-derived dendritic cells further aggravated LDH release and epithelial barrier permeability, highlighting the influence of the inflammatory response in mucormycosis-associated tissue damage. An important focus of this study was the evaluation of the reproducibility of readout parameters in independent experimental runs. Our results revealed consistently low coefficients of variation for cytokine concentrations and transcriptional levels of cytokine genes and cell integrity markers. As additional means of model validation, we confirmed that our bilayer model captures key principles of Mucorales biology such as accelerated growth in a hyperglycemic or ketoacidotic environment or reduced epithelial barrier invasion upon epithelial growth factor receptor blockade by gefitinib. Our findings indicate that the Transwell® bilayer model provides a reliable and reproducible tool for assessing host response in mucormycosis. KW - mucormycosis KW - alveolar epithelium KW - in vitro model KW - cytokines KW - dendritic cells Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-252477 VL - 9 ER -