Sterilizing immunity in the lung relies on targeting fungal apoptosis-like programmed cell death

Abstract

Survivin' neutrophil surveillance Humans constantly inhale fungal spores. Why don't we suffer more invasive infections from ubiquitous fungal molds such as Aspergillus fumigatus ? Working in mice, Shlezinger et al. found that neutrophils phagocytosed germinating fungal spores deep in the lungs (see the Perspective by Wiesner and Klein). Once engulfed, the fungal cells underwent programmed cell death, likely induced by phagocyte NADPH oxidase. Fungal strains engineered to overexpress a fungal survivin homolog resisted cell death by inhibiting caspase-3 and -7. When a Survivin antagonist was applied, more fungal cells died. These findings may lead to therapies for immunocompromised patients threatened by invasive fungal lung infections. Science , this issue p. 1037 ; see also p. 973