The ability of fungal-derived beta-glucan particles to induce leukocyte activation and the production of inflammatory mediators, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, is a well characterized phenomenon. Although efforts have been made to understand how these carbohydrate polymers exert their immunomodulatory effects, the receptors involved in generating these responses are unknown. Here we...

Innate immunity to Candida albicans depends upon the recognition of molecular patterns on the fungal cell wall. However, the masking of major components such as beta-glucan seems to be a mechanism that fungi have evolved to avoid immune cell recognition through the dectin-1 receptor. Although the role of C. albicans mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways as virulence determinants has ...

The eradication of tumor cells requires communication to and signaling by cells of the immune system. Natural killer (NK) cells are essential tumor-killing effector cells of the innate immune system; however, little is known about whether or how other immune cells recognize tumor cells to assist NK cells. Here, we show that the innate immune receptor Dectin-1 expressed on dendritic cells and ma...

The transcription factor NFATc2 regulates dendritic cell (DC) responses to microbial stimulation through the C-type lectin receptor dectin-1. But the genetic targets of NFATc2 and their effects on DC function remain largely unknown. Therefore we used ChIP-seq to conduct genome-wide mapping of NFATc2 target sites in dectin-1-activated DCs. By combining binding-site data with a comprehensive gene...

Despite the fact that Candida albicans is an important human fungal pathogen and Dectin-2 is a major pattern recognition receptor for fungi, our knowledge regarding the role of Dectin-2 for the host defense against disseminated candidiasis is limited. Dectin-2 deficient (Dectin-2(-/-)) mice were more susceptible to systemic candidiasis, and the susceptibility was mirrored by an elevated fungal ...

b-Glucan is one of the most abundant polysaccharides in fungal pathogens, yet its importance in antifungal immunity is unclear. Here we show that deficiency of dectin-1, the myeloid receptor for b-glucan, rendered mice susceptible to infection with Candida albicans. Dectin-1-deficient leukocytes demonstrated significantly impaired responses to fungi even in the presence of opsonins. Impaired le...

Our studies showed that tumor-infiltrating dendritic cells (DC) in breast cancer drive inflammatory Th2 (iTh2) cells and protumor inflammation. Here, we show that intratumoral delivery of the β-glucan curdlan, a ligand of dectin-1, blocks the generation of iTh2 cells and prevents breast cancer progression in vivo. Curdlan reprograms tumor-infiltrating DCs via the ligation of dectin-1, enabling ...

Proteo-β-glucan from Maitake (PGM) is a strong immune regulator, and its receptor is called Dectin-1. Cumulative evidence suggests that AMPA receptors are important for the treatment of depression. Here, we report that PGM treatment leads to a significant antidepressant effect in the tail suspension test and forced swim test after sixty minutes of treatment in mice. After five consecutive days ...

β-glucans have been reported to function as a potent adjuvant to stimulate innate and adaptive immune responses. However, β-glucans from different sources are differential in their structure, conformation, and thus biologic activity. Different preparations of β-glucans, soluble versus particulate, further complicate their mechanism of action. Here we show that yeast-derived particulate β-glucan...

Prolactin (PRL) is a polypeptide hormone of the anterior pituitary gland that was originally named for its ability to promote lactation. In the present study, the mechanism of beta-glucan effect on GH3/B6 cells in the synthesis of prolactin has been investigated. In order to study the synthesis and secretion of prolactin, GH3 cell lines which is derived from pituitary tumors was used. Furthermo...