The incidence of fungal infections has increased significantly over the past decades. Very often these infections are associated with biofilm formation on implanted biomaterials and/or host surfaces. This has important clinical implications, as fungal biofilms display properties that are dramatically different from planktonic (free-living) populations, including increased resistance to antifungal agents. Here we describe a rapid and highly reproducible 96-well microtiter-based method for the formation of fungal biofilms, which is easily adaptable for antifungal susceptibility testing. This model is based on the ability of metabolically active sessile cells to reduce a tetrazolium salt (2,3-bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfo-phenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide) to water-soluble orange formazan compounds, the intensity of which can then be determined using a microtiter-plate reader. The entire procedure takes approximately 2 d to complete. This technique simplifies biofilm formation and quantification, making it more reliable and comparable among different laboratories, a necessary step toward the standardization of antifungal susceptibility testing of biofilms.

The incidence of fungal infections has increased significantly over the past decades. Very often these infections are associated with biofilm formation on implanted biomaterials and/or host surfaces. This has important clinical implications since fungal biofilms display properties that are dramatically different from planktonic (free-living) populations, including increased resistance to antifungal agents. Here we describe a rapid and highly reproducible 96 well microtiter-based method for the formation of fungal biofilms which is easily adaptable for antifungal susceptibility testing. This model is based on the ability of metabolically active sessile cells to reduce a tetrazolium salt (XTT) to water-soluble orange formazan compounds, the intensity of which can then be determined using a microtiter-plate reader. The entire procedure takes approximately two days to complete. This technique simplifies biofilm formation and quantification, making it more reliable and comparable among different laboratories, a necessary step towards the standardization of antifungal susceptibility testing of biofilms.

We evaluated cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses in mice given a pulmonary infection with a Cryptococcus neoformans strain engineered to produce the Th1-type cytokine gamma interferon (IFN-␥). Mice given a pulmonary infection with an IFN-␥-producing C. neoformans strain were able to resolve the primary infection and demonstrated complete (100%) protection against a second pulmonary challenge with a pathogenic C. neoformans strain. Pulmonary cytokine analyses showed that Th1-type/proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine expression were significantly higher and Th2-type cytokine expression was significantly lower in mice infected with the IFN-␥-producing C. neoformans strain compared to wild-type-infected mice. This increased pulmonary Th1-type cytokine expression was also associated with significantly lower pulmonary fungal burden and significantly higher pulmonary leukocyte and T-lymphocyte recruitment in mice infected with the IFN-␥-producing C. neoformans strain compared to wild-type-infected mice. Our results demonstrate that pulmonary infection of mice with a C. neoformans strain expressing IFN-␥ results in the stimulation of local Th1-type anti-cryptococcal CMI responses and the development of protective host immunity against future pulmonary cryptococcal infections. The use of fungi engineered to produce host cytokines is a novel method to study immune responses to infection and may be useful in developing vaccine strategies in humans.