Fig. 3: EphA2 promotes ferroptotic host cell death during candidiasis.

a Up- and down-regulated number of genes of KEGG pathways. RNASeq was performed on mRNA isolated from kidneys of WT and Epha2^−/− mice after 3 days of infection. N = 3 per mouse strain. b GSEA of ferroptosis pathway genes. Heatmap of ferroptosis gene expression analysis in WT and Epha2^−/− mice. Normalized enrichment score is shown on Y-axis. c Representative RNAscope image of SCL7a11, GPX4, and LYZ2 expression in infected kidneys after 3 days of infection. Scale bar 50 μm. N = 8; 4 independent kidney sections of two animals per group. d–f Quantification of RNAsope particles. d Normalized particles of DAPI⁺ nuclei. SLC7a11⁺ particles of LYZ2 positive and negative cells. N = 8; 4 independent kidney sections of two animals per group. Box-and-whisker plots indicating median, 25th/75th percentiles, and the minimum/maximum values. Two-tailed Mann–Whitney Test. e SLC7a11⁺ and f GPX4⁺ particles of LYZ2-positive and negative cells. N = 8; 4 independent kidney sections of two animals per group. Box-and-whisker plots indicating median, 25th/75th percentiles, and the minimum/maximum values. Two-tailed Mann–Whitney Test. g GPX4 protein expression in infected kidneys after 3 days of infection. GPX4 shown in green, C. albicans (Ca) in red. Tissue is visualized using DAPI. Scale bar 100 μm. N = 7; independent animals. h Lipid peroxidation in infected kidneys after 3 days of infection using 4HNE. 4HNE shown in green, C. albicans (Ca) in red. Tissue is visualized using DAPI. Scale bar 100 μm. N = 7; independent animals.