Activator protein 1 is triggered by Aspergillus fumigatus β-glucans surface-exposed during specific growth stages

Aspergillus fumigatus has been shown to trigger the activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), but it remains unclear whether other transcription factors are also induced following infection by this organism. In this study, we demonstrated that A. fumigatus also triggers activator protein 1 (AP-1), a transcription factor that plays an important role during the production of cytokines and chemokines. Swollen conidia strongly induce the activation of AP-1, and more than 80% of these were stained positively with anti-β-glucan antibodies by fluorescence microscopy. Hyphae were also stained with anti-β-glucan antibodies, albeit significantly weaker compared with swollen conidia. Furthermore, our present findings also showed that A. fumigatus triggers the activation of AP-1 in a dectin-1 (receptor for β-glucan)-dependent manner. These data thus suggest that AP-1 is triggered by β-glucan recognition on the surface of A. fumigatus. We also showed that Syk tyrosine kinase is required for AP-1 induction in this pathway. We therefore speculate that the dectin-1/Syk/AP-1 signaling pathway plays an important role in the host defense response to fungal infection.