Antigen-restricted Candida albicans Th17 cells link oral-gut immunity and adopt pathogenic features during intestinal inflammation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The commensal yeast Candida albicans is a major inducer of human mucosal Th17 cells. How C. albicans drives Th17 cell responses at homeostasis, and whether such responses contribute to inflammatory diseases, remains poorly understood. Here, we showed that C. albicans-reactive Th17 cells targeted a limited set of proteins enriched in fungal extracellular vesicles. At homeostasis, these cells predominantly resided in the oral mucosa. However, T cell receptor profiling revealed shared clonotypes across oral and gut tissues, with C. albicans being a major driver of this repertoire overlap. In patients with Crohn's disease, C. albicans-specific Th17 cells with features of oral priming were enriched in intestinal tissues, where they retained their focused antigen specificity but acquired pathogenic Th17 cell traits. Together, our results reveal a stable, antigen-restricted C. albicans Th17 subset that is shared across mucosal sites and undergoes functional adaptation in the inflamed intestine. These cells represent a potential target for immune modulation in Crohn's disease.
Source: Immunity
Authors: Gabriela Rios Martini, Philipp Hofmann, Ann-Kristin Kamps, Amos Weichberger, Ekaterina Tikhonova, Aidan Conroy, Xiangyu Pan, Diana Milagros Namuch, Laura Rathjens, Arne Bergfeld, Susanna Nikolaus, Jeanette Riffert, Florian Tran, Konrad Aden, Maria Witte, Clemens Schafmayer, Dora Stölzl, Stephan Weidinger, Markus M. Heimesaat, Miriam Cyris, Ann-Kristin Härdter, Christof Dörfer, Robert Zarnowski, David Andes, Sascha Brunke, Bernhard Hube, Alexander Scheffold, Iliyan D. Iliev, Stefan Schreiber, Petra Bacher
Institutions: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Cornell University, Weill Cornell Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Leibniz-Institut für Naturstoff-Forschung und Infektionsbiologie e. V. - Hans-Knöll-Institut (HKI), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Technische Universität Berlin
Language: English
Subfield: Immunology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $10,400
Funders: European Commission, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, National Institutes of Health, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, European Research Council, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Awards: G1017552882, Mononuclear phagocyte networks in mycobiota regulation and antifungal immunity., G2460052287, G281949974, TRR 241: ImmunEpitheliale Signalwege bei chronisch entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen, G3456425215, EXC 2167: Präzisionsmedizin für Chronische Entzündungserkrankungen (PMI), G4713295320, G5504635364, G6094595053, Ein Pathogenspezifischer CD4 TZellatlas für chronisch entzündliche Erkrankungen, G7394736317, G8134500091, Personalised blueprint intestinal health, Vesicle-mediated drug resistance of Candida albicans biofilm, Investigation of gut microbiota metabolite-mediated transkingdom interactions with fungi, The role of the mycobiome in cancer, Commensal fungal communities in the regulation of immunity and intestinal inflammation, Regulation and function of mucosal IgA immune responses to mycobiota in the gut.
OpenAlex ID: W7168262747