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. 1997 Feb;65(2):525–530. doi: 10.1128/iai.65.2.525-530.1997

A role for B cells in resistance to Cryptococcus neoformans in mice.

K M Aguirre 1, L L Johnson 1
PMCID: PMC176091  PMID: 9009308

Abstract

The role of B cells in immunity to Cryptococcus neoformans was investigated. Genetically targeted, B-cell-deficient mice (mu Mt) examined at various times after intravenous infection with C. neoformans 184 had lung and brain yeast burdens that were equivalent to tissue burdens in control B-cell-sufficient mice. Both B-cell-deficient and B-cell-sufficient control mice were effectively vaccinated by a sublethal intratracheal instillation of strain 184 yeast against a systemic infection with the C. neoformans strain carrying ura5; vaccinated control and vaccinated B-cell-deficient mice had equivalent brain and lung burdens of the ura5 strain 10 days after intravenous rechallenge. Additionally, B-cell-deficient and B-cell-sufficient vaccinated mice survived an intravenous rechallenge with a dose of yeast cells which is normally lethal for unimmunized mice. In further studies of the role of B cells in murine cryptococcosis, SCID mice were reconstituted with lymphocytes from B-cell-deficient and B-cell-sufficient mice. SCID mice reconstituted with lymphocytes from vaccinated B-cell-deficient animals failed to express effective adoptive immunity to C. neoformans brain infection. In contrast, SCID mice reconstituted with lymphocytes from vaccinated B-cell-sufficient mice had 10-fold fewer yeast cells in their brains than did uninfused SCID controls. However, SCID mice given lymphocytes from B-cell-deficient immune donors had fewer yeast cells in their lungs than did uninfused controls. Fewer CD4+ lymphocytes were recovered at 7 and 11 days after infection from the peripheral blood and spleens of SCID mice reconstituted with lymphocyte suspensions from B-cell-deficient animals than from the peripheral blood and spleens of SCID mice reconstituted with suspensions from B-cell-sufficient control donors. These data suggest that B cells can play an important role in host defense against Cryptococcus in the brain under conditions in which T-cell-mediated immunity is impaired.

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Selected References

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