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Clinical Microbiology Reviews, July 2003, p. 517-533, Vol. 16, No. 3
0893-8512/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CMR.16.3.517-533.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Production of Eicosanoids and Other Oxylipins by Pathogenic Eukaryotic Microbes

Mairi C. Noverr,1 John R. Erb-Downward,1,2 and Gary B. Huffnagle1,2*

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine,1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-06422

Oxylipins are oxygenated metabolites of fatty acids. Eicosanoids are a subset of oxylipins and include the prostaglandins and leukotrienes, which are potent regulators of host immune responses. Host cells are one source of eicosanoids and oxylipins during infection; however, another potential source of eicosanoids is the pathogen itself. A broad range of pathogenic fungi, protozoa, and helminths produce eicosanoids and other oxylipins by novel synthesis pathways. Why do these organisms produce oxylipins? Accumulating data suggest that phase change and differentiation in these organisms are controlled by oxylipins, including prostaglandins and lipoxygenase products. The precise role of pathogen-derived eicosanoids in pathogenesis remains to be determined, but the potential link between pathogen eicosanoids and the development of TH2 responses in the host is intriguing. Mammalian prostaglandins and leukotrienes have been studied extensively, and these molecules can modulate Th1 versus Th2 immune responses, chemokine production, phagocytosis, lymphocyte proliferation, and leukocyte chemotaxis. Thus, eicosanoids and oxylipins (host or microbe) may be mediators of a direct host-pathogen "cross-talk" that promotes chronic infection and hypersensitivity disease, common features of infection by eukaryotic pathogens.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, 1150 W. Medical Ctr. Drive, 6301 MSRB III, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0642. Phone: (734) 936-9368. Fax: (734) 764-4556. E-mail: ghuff{at}umich.edu.

Clinical Microbiology Reviews, July 2003, p. 517-533, Vol. 16, No. 3
0893-8512/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CMR.16.3.517-533.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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