CD4+ T cells cause multinucleated giant cells to form around Cryptococcus neoformans and confine the yeast within the primary site of infection in the respiratory tract

Abstract

The possible mechanisms by which CD4+ T cells prevent the dissemination of Cryptococcus neoformans from the primary site of infection in the respiratory tract were examined. It was found that even before fungicidal mechanisms are fully induced in the lungs, the host generates a CD4+ T cell-dependent inflammatory response that sequesters yeast within the pulmonary alveoli. This confinement is evident histopathologically and demonstrable objectively as a rapid decline in the ability to dislodge yeast from the lungs by bronchopulmonary lavage. One striking component of this response is the enclosure of cryptococci within multinucleated giant cells in granulomas. Studies in severe combined immunodeficient mice that were engrafted with selected lymphocyte subpopulations show that B cells, and hence anti-Cryptococcus antibodies, are not necessary for the CD4+ T cell-dependent responses that isolate and subsequently destroy this opportunistic pathogen in the lung parenchyma.