The pathways and the mechanisms by which Cryptococcus enters the brain

Abstract

Generally, Cryptococcus initially infects the respiratory tract, but can spread, eventually crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and causing meningitis or meningoencephalitis. Specifically, Cryptococcus invades the vascular endothelial cells of the BBB, from which it enters the brain. The main mechanisms through which Cryptococcus crosses the BBB are transcellular traversal, the paracellular pathway, and via Trojan horse. In this paper, the mechanisms by which Cryptococcus crosses the BBB were explained in detail. In addition to pathways of entry to the brain, this paper presents a discussion on some rare cryptococcal infections and provides some insights for future research directions.

Keywords

• Cryptococcus
• blood-brain barrier
• transcellular traversal
• paracellular pathway
• trojan horse mechanism