Intradermal infection and dissemination ofin immunocompetent and immunocompromised mouse models.

Abstract

UNLABELLED: an emerging fungal pathogen, predominately colonizes human skin leading to serious invasive infections in humans. Though it is assumed that skin colonization can lead to invasive infection, dissemination potential offrom skin to internal organs is still unknown. In this study, immunocompetent and immunocompromised mouse models of intradermal skin infection were used to compare the dissemination potential ofto internal organs. Our results suggest thatpersists in the skin tissue of both immunocompetent and immunocompromised infected mice even at 30 days post-infection. Furthermore,can readily disseminate from skin tissue to internal organs such as the spleen and kidney as early as 24 h post-infection and was detected until 30 days post-infection. Taken together, our findings for the first time indicate that murine skin intradermally infected withcan readily disseminate to internal organs and cause invasive infections. IMPORTANCE: is a multi-drug-resistant emerging fungal pathogen colonizes the human skin and causes life-threatening infections. However, whethercan disseminate from the skin to internal organs is unclear. Understanding the dissemination potential ofin both immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts is necessary to monitor susceptible individuals and to develop novel approaches to prevent and treat this emerging fungal pathogen. Using mouse models of intradermalskin infection, our findings report a novel observation that mice skin intradermally infected withcan readily disseminate to internal organs leading to systemic disease. These findings help explain the colonization, persistence, and dissemination potential ofin immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts and reveal that skin infection is a potential source of invasive infection.