Corynespora cassiicola is a plant pathogen associated with leaf-spotting disease. The fungus has been found on diverse substrates: leaves, stems and roots of plants; nematode cysts and human skin. It rarely causes human infections. Here we report one case of subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis caused by C. cassiicola with prominent tissue necrosis in a woman. All of her clinical features pointed towards a genetic linkage. Hence, whole-exome sequencing and Sanger sequencing were performed on this patient. One mutation of CARD9 was detected.
Objective: The variant (c.445G > A; p. G149R) in IL-23 receptor (IL23R) was found to be associated with leprosy. However, the biological effect of this variant has not been determined in the pathogenesis of leprosy. Methods: We performed the functional investigation of the IL23R Arg381Gln gene variant in leprosy. Firstly, PBMC samples, isolated from six health individuals, were infected by Mycobacterium marine. QPCR and ELISA assay were then conducted to determine Th17 cell relative cytokines (IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-22 and IFN-g) expression when the cells were infected for 6hr, 12hr, 24hr and 48hr respectively. Memory CD4+ T cells were sorted from six health controls and six G149R carriers, and then the percentage of memory Th17 cells in CD4+Tcells were analyzed by flow cytometry after the cells were induced by IL-23 or not for 72hr. Results: We found that the expression of IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-22 and IFN-g were significantly increased in infection of Mycobacterium marine that mimicked M. leprae infection in vitro with a time-dependent manner. Meanwhile the percentage of circulating those cytokines did not differ in the isolated memory CD4+T cells of G149R carriers and controls. But, reduced IL-23-induced Th17 response in memory Th cells with decreased IL-17A and IL-17F production of G149R carriers were identified. Moreover, G149R may also attenuated memory Th17 cell survival/expansion. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that IL-23/IL-17 pathway was involved in leprosy pathogenesis. G149R attenuate IL-23 responsiveness in human memory Th 17 cells, although this variant has no biological effect on development of these cells.
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