Fig. 7: Candidalysin-deficient C. albicans cause less severe infection and tissue damage.
From: Inflammasome-mediated GSDMD activation facilitates escape of Candida albicans from macrophages
a Kaplan-Meier survival plots of mice infected with WT or candidalysin-deficient (ece1Δ/Δ) C. albicans. Mice were intravenously challenged with 1 × 106 CFU C. albicans. Survival rates were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and log-rank testing. p = 0.0003 vs. WT. b Clinical scores of mice challenged with WT or candidalysin-deficient (ece1Δ/Δ) C. albicans. Two-tailed unpaired Student’s t test was used for statistical comparisons. Data shown are means ± SD (n = 10 mice per group). p = 0.0388 (16 h), p = 0.0483 (24 h), p = 0.0074 (30 h) vs. WT C. albicans. c Up panel, comparison of the kidneys of mice challenged with WT or candidalysin-deficient (ece1Δ/Δ) C. albicans. Mice were sacrificed 2 days after intravenous injection of 1 × 106 CFU C. albicans. Shown are representative images. Lower panel, kidney weights of C. albicans-challenged mice. Two-tailed unpaired Student’s t test was used for statistical comparisons. Data shown are means ± SD (n = 8 kidneys per group). p = 0.0136 (ece1Δ/Δ), p = 0.0008 (w/o C. albicans) vs. WT C. albicans. d Histopathologic assessment of the kidneys of mice challenged with WT or candidalysin-deficient (ece1Δ/Δ) C. albicans. Mice were sacrificed 2 days after intravenous injection of 1 ×106 CFU C. albicans. Shown are representative H&E-stained sections of kidney tissues. Experiments were repeated three times. e Fungal burden of kidneys, livers, and spleens of mice challenged with WT or candidalysin-deficient (ece1Δ/Δ) C. albicans. Mice were sacrificed 2 days after intravenous injection of 1 × 106 CFU C. albicans. Two-tailed unpaired Student’s t test was used for statistical comparisons. Data shown are means ± SD (n = 7 for WT C. albicans-challenged mice, n = 8 for ece1Δ/Δ-challenged mice per group). p = 0.0032 (kidney) vs. WT C. albicans. f C. albicans in the kidney were identified by Grocott methenamine silver staining. Mice were sacrificed 2 days after intravenous injection of 1 × 106 CFU C. albicans. Results are representative of data from at least three biological replicates.
