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Review
. 2017 Dec 14;13(12):e1006680.
doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006680. eCollection 2017 Dec.

False friends: Phagocytes as Trojan horses in microbial brain infections

Felipe H Santiago-Tirado  1 , Tamara L Doering  1
Affiliations
Review

False friends: Phagocytes as Trojan horses in microbial brain infections

Felipe H Santiago-Tirado et al. PLoS Pathog. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The role of phagocytes as Trojan horses for CNS pathogens.
Most neuroinvasive pathogens first infect organs outside the CNS, such as the lungs or the intestines. Cryptococcus neoformans infection of the lungs is shown here as an example. Once infection is established, phagocytes (pink cells) are recruited to these sites (A), where they engulf the pathogen. Some infected phagocytes leave the site of infection and enter the bloodstream, facilitated by the highly permeable vasculature (green) of peripheral organs (B). Through a process that is poorly understood, many of these home to the CNS. Once there, infected phagocytes may act as Trojan horses, traversing the BBB (blue cells) with the pathogen as a passenger (C). Although both paracellular (top) and transcellular (bottom) transmigration can occur, the latter is most likely due to the presence of tight junctions in the BBB (C). Once inside the brain, pathogens can potentially exit their Trojan horses and infect other neural structures (D). Parts of this model (A and B) also apply to phagocyte-assisted dissemination and infection outside of the CNS (see text). BBB, blood–brain barrier; CNS, central nervous system; ECs, endothelial cells. Arrows indicate movement; broken arrow indicates fungal egress.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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