Hemolysin chrysolysin™ from Penicillium chrysogenum promotes inflammatory response

Some strains of Penicillium chrysogenum produce a proteinaceous hemolysin, chrysolysin™, when incubated on sheep's blood agar at 37 °C but not at 23 °C. However, 92% (11/12) of the indoor air isolates produced hemolysis but only 43% (3/7) of the non-indoor air isolates did so. Chrysolysin is an aggregating protein composed of approximately 2 kDa monomers, contains one cysteine amino acid, and has an isoelectric point of 4.85. Treatment of murine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 with purified chrysolysin caused statistically significant (T-test, p<0.05) increased production of macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2) in a dose dependent manner after 6 h treatment. This suggests that chrysolysin might act to promote the host's inflammatory response after P. chrysogenum exposures.