Human neutrophils dump Candida glabrata after intracellular killing

• Human neutrophils can dump Candida glabrata after intracellular killing.
• Dumping of C. glabrata by PMN occurs in 8% of all phagocytosis events.
• Dumping has potential relevance for initiation of adaptive immunity.

Interaction between fungal pathogens and human phagocytes can lead to remarkably variable outcomes, ranging from intracellular killing to prolonged survival and replication of the pathogen in the host cell. Using live cell imaging we observed primary human neutrophils that release phagocytosed Candida glabrata yeast cells after intracellular killing. This process, for which we propose the name “dumping”, adds a new outcome to phagocyte–fungus interaction which may be of potential immunological importance as it allows professional antigen presenting cells to take up and process neutrophil-inactivated pathogens that in their viable state are able to evade intracellular degradation in these cells.