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Updated: May 31, 2026

Fluorescence Assays for the Study of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Interaction with the Immune Receptor SLAMF1
Published on: February 28, 2025
Homotypic interactions between SLAMF1 receptors on innate T cells and neutrophils regulate killing of fungi
Lindsay Suarez Lau1, Sarah Lichtenberger1, Cleison Ledesma Taira1
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
Abstract:
Innate lymphocytes and myeloid cells communicate and play an essential part in activating neutrophils and other effector cells to kill fungi. Here, we identified that Signaling Lymphocytic Activation Molecule 1 (SLAMF1) orchestrates a cellular and molecular signaling network that activates phagocytes. We uncovered innate lymphocytes including innate CD4+ or TCRγδ+ T cells augment neutrophil killing of Blastomyces dermatitidis (Bd) in a SLAMF1 dependent manner. SLAMF1 expression on neutrophils enabled homotypic SLAMF1:SLAMF1 interactions with innate CD4+ T cells, which released soluble factors that activated neutrophils to kill fungi. Our work furnishes new mechanistic insight about the role of SLAMF1 in mobilizing innate immune cells to induce phagocyte-driven killing of inhaled fungi.
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