Taxonomic group: fungi / Ascomycota, Ascomycota, Ascomycota, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mucoromycota
(Phylum: Ascomycota, Ascomycota, Ascomycota, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mucoromycota)
The structure was elucidated in this paperNCBI PubMed ID: 24722226Publication DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004050Journal NLM ID: 101238921Publisher: San Francisco, CA: Public Library of Science
Correspondence: Gow NA <n.gow
abdn.ac.uk>
Institutions: Aberdeen Fungal Group, School of Medical Sciences, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK, Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, Department of Dermatology, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, Department of Internal Medicine and Nijmegen Institute for Infection, Inflammation & Immunity (N4i), Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Chitin is an essential structural polysaccharide of fungal pathogens and parasites, but its role in human immune responses remains largely unknown. It is the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature after cellulose and its derivatives today are widely used for medical and industrial purposes. We analysed the immunological properties of purified chitin particles derived from the opportunistic human fungal pathogen Candida albicans, which led to the selective secretion of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. We identified NOD2, TLR9 and the mannose receptor as essential fungal chitin-recognition receptors for the induction of this response. Chitin reduced LPS-induced inflammation in vivo and may therefore contribute to the resolution of the immune response once the pathogen has been defeated. Fungal chitin also induced eosinophilia in vivo, underpinning its ability to induce asthma. Polymorphisms in the identified chitin receptors, NOD2 and TLR9, predispose individuals to inflammatory conditions and dysregulated expression of chitinases and chitinase-like binding proteins, whose activity is essential to generate IL-10-inducing fungal chitin particles in vitro, have also been linked to inflammatory conditions and asthma. Chitin recognition is therefore critical for immune homeostasis and is likely to have a significant role in infectious and allergic disease.
chitin
Structure type: homopolymer
Location inside paper: p.1
Trivial name: chitin, chitosan
Compound class: O-polysaccharide, cell wall polysaccharide, glucan, polysaccharide
Contained glycoepitopes: IEDB_135813,IEDB_137340,IEDB_141807,IEDB_151531,IEDB_153212,IEDB_241099,IEDB_423114,IEDB_423150,SB_74,SB_85
Methods: cytokine assay, biological assay, extra
Biological activity: 10 mcg/ml increased the secretion of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 along with the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF in hPBMCs, whereas in mouse macrophages only IL-10 secretion was increased; 1–10 mcg/ml induced high IL-10 secretion, 250–1000 mcg/ml instead strongly induced TNF secretion, 50–100 mcg/ml induced equal amounts of both cytokines; chitin dampened the inflammatory response to LPS in vivo; the release of cell wall chitin during the end/late-phase of infection when the pathogen has been defeated by the immune system contribute to the resolution of the immune response by the induction of IL-10 thereby preventing collateral inflammatory-mediated damage
Comments, role: degree of acetylation: Candida albicans 97%; Aspergillus fumigatus 93%; Saccharomyces cerevisiae 100%; Cryptococcus neoformans 55%; Mucor circinelloides 95%; Candida albicans NGY152 was used in this study as a main source of chitin; no obvious differences were observed between different different fungal species
Related record ID(s): 46544, 46545, 46683, 50301, 50303, 50304, 50307, 50308, 50310, 50311, 50314, 50315, 50317, 50319, 50320
NCBI Taxonomy refs (TaxIDs): 5476,
746128,
1247190,
235443,
747725Reference(s) to other database(s): GTC:G97099AY
Show glycosyltransferases
There is only one chemically distinct structure:
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