Crosstalk between pentraxin-3 and humoral pattern-recognition receptors plays an essential role in immunomodulation against Aspergillus fumigatus

The study investigated the interaction between pentraxin-3 (PTX3), a soluble pattern-recognition receptor, and the fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. The aim was to identify the ligands for PTX3 and the impact of PTX3 on the immune response. A. fumigatus spores, hyphae or cell wall components were incubated with PTX3, human serum and others humoral factors and their interaction was studied by immunofluorescence, flow cytometry and ELISA. Opsonizd conidia were co-incubated with human monocyte-derived macrophages (hMDM) and cytokine secretion was measured.