Macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha is a critical mediator of host defense against invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in neutropenic hosts.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is a devastating complication of immunosuppression that usually occurs in neutropenic patients. In this setting, augmentation of the antifungal activity of available immune cells may improve the outcome of the infection. Macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha (MIP-1 alpha) is a CC chemokine with potent chemotactic activity for various subsets of mononuclear leukocytes. We therefore tested the hypothesis that the influx of mononuclear cells into the lung in invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is in part mediated by MIP-1 alpha, and the manipulation of this ligand alters the outcome of the infection. We found that in both immunocompetent and neutropenic mice, MIP-1 alpha was induced in the lungs in response to intratracheal administration of Aspergillus fumigatus conidia. In neutrophil-depleted mice challenged with intratracheal conidia, there was evidence of invasive fungal pneumonia associated with a predominantly mononuclear leukocyte infiltrate. Ab-mediated depletion of MIP-1 alpha resulted in a 6-fold increase in mortality in neutropenic mice, which was associated with a 12-fold increase in lung fungal burden. Studies of single-cell suspensions of whole lungs revealed a 36% decrease in total lung leukocyte infiltration as a result of MIP-1 alpha neutralization. Flow cytometry on whole lung suspensions showed a 41% reduction in lung monocyte/macrophages as a result of MIP-1 alpha neutralization, but no difference in other lung leukocyte subsets. These studies indicate that MIP-1 alpha is a critical mediator of host defense against A. fumigatus in the setting of neutropenia and may be an important target in devising future therapeutic strategies against invasive aspergillosis.