Modulation of the Host Response to Control Invasive Fungal Infections
Flavie Courjol, Thierry Jouault and Chantal Fradin
from: Antifungals: From Genomics to Resistance and the Development of Novel Agents (Edited by: Alix T. Coste and Patrick Vandeputte). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2015) Pages: 237-266.
Abstract
Disruption of the host immune defense is one of the most important risk factors for invasive fungal infections (IFIs). Knowledge of both the immune factors involved in defense against fungi and the immune risk factors for IFIs is important to target specific immune functions in order to regulate them in patients at risk. Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Cryptococcus neoformans are the most common fungal pathogens of humans. They are opportunistic pathogens, which can disseminate in hosts with acquired defects in immune homeostasis. Risk factors for IFIs caused by these three fungi are well-known. Different studies have reported immune defense against their invasion, highlighting putative immune targets for immunotherapy. Some pre-clinical and clinical trials using non-specific immunotherapies (leucocytes transfusion, growth factors and cytokines) have been tested. Although an antifungal immunotherapy has not been discovered yet, some of the assays have given promising results read more ...
