An In Vitro Model for the Study of the Macrophage Response Upon Trichophyton rubrum Challenge

Diversity in the macrophage models currently employed in immunology studies may lead to opposed results and interpretations. In this study, we aimed to analyze the suitability of J774 macrophage-like cells as a model for the interaction between the dermatophyte Trichophyton rubrum and macrophages. J774 cells were competent in fungal phagocytosis, but succumbed to hyphal growth. Nevertheless, they could also secrete IL-1β in response to the dermatophyte. On the opposite direction, inflammatory, thioglycollate-induced peritoneal macrophages did not succumb to fungal growth and showed no significant IL-1β production. The proteomic profiling of these cells uncovered vimentin and plastin-2 as proteins whose abundance was altered by the fungal interaction. Our study indicates that this cell line could be an interesting tool in the investigation of T. rubrum infection biology.