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Infection and Immunity, November 2001, p. 6874-6880, Vol. 69, No. 11
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.11.6874-6880.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Involvement of Fungal Cell Wall Components in Adhesion of Sporothrix schenckii to Human Fibronectin

Osana C. Lima,^1,2 Camila C. Figueiredo,¹ José O. Previato,³ Lucia Mendonça-Previato,³ Verônica Morandi,¹ and Leila M. Lopes Bezerra^1,*

Departamento de Biologia Celular e Genética, Instituto de Biologia Roberto Alcantara Gomes, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro,¹ Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz,² and Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,³ Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Received 26 March 2001/Returned for modification 9 May 2001/Accepted 9 August 2001

Systemic sporotrichosis is an emerging infection potentially fatal for immunocompromised patients. Adhesion to extracellular matrix proteins is thought to play a crucial role in invasive fungal diseases. Here we report studies of the adhesion of Sporothrix schenckii to the extracellular protein fibronectin (Fn). Both yeast cells and conidia of S. schenckii were able to adhere to Fn as detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent binding assays. Adhesion of yeast cells to Fn is dose dependent and saturable. S. schenckii adheres equally well to 40-kDa and 120-kDa Fn proteolytic fragments. While adhesion to Fn was increased by Ca²⁺, inhibition assays demonstrated that it was not RGD dependent. A carbohydrate-containing cell wall neutral fraction blocked up to 30% of the observed adherence for the yeast cells. The biochemical nature of this fraction suggests the participation of cell surface glycoconjugates in binding by their carbohydrate or peptide moieties. These results provide new data concerning S. schenckii adhesion mechanisms, which could be important in host-fungus interactions and the establishment of sporotrichosis.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Departamento de Biologia Celular e Genética, Instituto de Biologia Roberto Alcântara Gomes, UERJ, Rua São Francisco Xavier, 524PHLC s/205, 20550-013, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Phone: 55-21-2587-7567. Fax: 55-21-2587-7377. E-mail: leila{at}uerj.br.

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Infection and Immunity, November 2001, p. 6874-6880, Vol. 69, No. 11
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.11.6874-6880.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

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