ArticleNature communications2023
Microglia are not protective against cryptococcal meningitis.
Article in Nature communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cryptococcal Infection Across Disease Stages: Host-Pathogen Interactions, Tissue Niches, and Translational Priorities.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Fungal Infections in Disorders of Inborn Errors of Immunity.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2026Review
- A cysteine-rich domain of themBio · 2026Article
- Fluorescent organelle markers in Cryptococcus neoformans: a versatile toolkit for live-cell subcellular localization.Genetics · 2026Article
- Hidden battles: dissecting host-fungal interactions and immune heterogeneity in infection outcomes.mSphere · 2026Review
- Article
- Fluorescent organelle markers inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Organ-specific immune responses are strain-dependent in a mouse model ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Use of a human immortalized microglia cell line to study recognition, phagocytosis, and intracellular survival ofmSphere · 2026Article
- Cytoplasmic NAD/H synthesis via NRK1 regulates inflammatory capacity and promotes survival of CD4Nature communications · 2026Article
- Microglia sense fungal infections through capsular components from capillary-bound Cryptococcus neoformans via endothelial nucleotide signaling.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Exploring the role of infectious pathogens in Alzheimer's disease neuroinflammation.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Cryptococcus exploits delayed microglial activation, and microglial osteopontin/Spp1 impairs peripheral host control.Cell host & microbe · 2025Article
- Oral L-Arginine treatment attenuatesVirulence · 2025Article
- Brain-infiltrating CD4 T cells drive inflammatory microglia proliferation during cryptococcal meningitis in mice.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Divergent host-pathogen interactions in neurolisteriosis: cytosolic replication vs. phagosomal dormancy of Listeria monocytogenes in CNS macrophages.Acta neuropathologica · 2025Article
- Active Cryptococcus neoformans glucuronoxylomannan production prevents elimination of cryptococcal CNS infection in vivo.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- Host-membrane lipid composition controlsFrontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Elements of dissemination in cryptococcosis.mBio · 2024Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Microglia provide protection against a range of brain infections including bacteria, viruses and parasites, but how these glial cells respond to fungal brain infections is poorly understood. We investigated the role of microglia in the context of cryptococcal meningitis, the most common cause of fungal meningitis in humans. Using a series of transgenic- and chemical-based microglia depletion methods we found that, contrary to their protective role during other infections, loss of microglia did not affect control of Cryptococcus neoformans brain infection which was replicated with several fungal strains. At early time points post-infection, we found that microglia depletion lowered fungal brain burdens, which was related to intracellular residence of C. neoformans within microglia. Further examination of extracellular and intracellular fungal populations revealed that C. neoformans residing in microglia were protected from copper starvation, whereas extracellular yeast upregulated copper transporter CTR4. However, the degree of copper starvation did not equate to fungal survival or abundance of metals within different intracellular niches. Taken together, these data show how tissue-resident myeloid cells may influence fungal phenotype in the brain but do not provide protection against this infection, and instead may act as an early infection reservoir.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.