Interestingly, sporangiospores germination and host infection was required to promote a local inflammatory response, since challenge with live NRRL and UV-killed R7B and NRRL sporangiospores failed to increase the mRNA levels of il1b, tnfa, and il22, while a higher dose of NRRL sporangiospores, which could kill the fish, promoted a similar effect than a lower dose of highly virulent R7B. Here, TNF is linked to infection.