THE EFFECT OF MACROPHAGES RAW 264.7 DAMAGE AND DIFFERENTIATION INDUCED BY TALAROMYCES MARNEFFEI CONIDIA

Talaromyces marneffei can survive in host macrophages and cause life-threatening human infection in Southern Asia. The ability of T.marneffei conidia to survive in host macrophages allows infections to become more serious and thus more difficult to treat. The interaction between T.marneffei conidia and host macrophages remains poorly understood. This work is aimed at study the effect of macrophage Raw 264.7 damage and differentiation induced by Talaromyces Marneffei conidia. Macrophages viability, apoptosis and necrosis rates, cytokines production and cell polarization were assessed after macrophages RAW 264.7 were co-cultured with T.marneffei conidia through WST-8, Annexin V-FITC/PI flow cytometry, ELISA methods, and Immunofluorescence assays. It was found the viability of macrophages decreased significantly, whilst the apoptosis rate and necrosis rate increased significantly after macrophages were co-cultured with T.marneffei conidia; IL-1β secretion decreased whereas TNF-α and IL-10 secretion increased significantly. In addition, immunofluorescence assays showed that the conidia induced macrophages to express CD206. The results served to indicate that T.marneffei may cause damage to macrophages and manipulate differentiation in them.