Interestingly, our findings are in line with work in human bronchoalveolar lavage phagocytes ex vivo, in which infection with Cn for 2 h stimulated the expression of lipid catabolism genes in infected macrophages, mainly Fabp4, accompanied by greater production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and IL-1β associated with anti-cryptococcal activity (56, 57). This evidence concerns the gene TNF and infection.