Differential recognition of Candida tropicalis , Candida guilliermondii , Candida krusei , and Candida auris by human innate immune cells

The deep-seated infections caused by the genus are associated with a high mortality rate, and is the most frequent species associated with these diseases. The fungal wall is composed of macromolecules not synthesized by the host, and therefore is a source of ligands recognized by innate immune cells. We performed a comparative study analyzing the cell wall composition and organization of , , and , along with their ability to stimulate cytokine production and phagocytosis by human innate immune cells. We found that the wall of these species had the basic components already described in , with most of the chitin and b1,3-glucan located underneath the mannan layer. However, the walls of and were rich in chitin and the former had a lower content of mannans. contained changes in the mannan and the b1,3-glucan levels. These species were differentially phagocytosed by human macrophages and stimulated cytokine production in a dectin-1-dependent pathway. showed the most significant changes in the tested parameters, whereas behaved like . Our results suggest that the cell wall and innate immune recognition of , , , and is different from that reported for .