Figure 1.

Exposure of β-glucan and sensing by dectin-1 promotes inflammatory responses to A. fumigatus and regulates optimal IFN-λ expression. (A–D) Wild-type C57BL/6J were challenged with 6 × 10⁷ resting-HK, 5 × 10⁷ swollen-HK, or 5 × 10⁷ live CEA10 conidia for 48 h and lung homogenates analyzed for production of (A) TNF-α, and (D) IFN-λ protein, and (C) mRNA expression of IFN-λ. (B) BAL fluids were analyzed for expression of neutrophil ROS in treated mice. BAL from _P47Phox-/- mice challenged with live conidia was used as control for baseline staining for ROS. (E–G) Wild-type C57BL/6 (black bars and symbols) or dectin-1^−/− (purple bars and symbols) mice were infected either with 5 × 10⁷ live or 5 × 10⁷ swollen-HK CEA10 conidia for 48 h. (E,F) Expression of IFN-λ mRNA and protein 48 h after infection with either swollen-HK (left) or live (right) conidia. (G) Production of ROS by BAL neutrophils in response to swollen-HK (left) or live (right) conidia. (H,I) Expression of IFN-λ mRNA (H) and protein (I) in response to IT treatment with curdlan. Wild-type mice challenged with resting-HK and swollen-HK CEA10 included as controls. Data is cumulative of two independent experiments. Each symbol represents one mouse. **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001, calculated by Mann-Whitney non-parametric test.