title: Antifungal immunity and adjuvant cytokine immune enhancement in cancer patients with invasive fungal infections.
abstract: Invasive fungal infections are common in severely immunosuppressed patients with cancer and in recipients of haematopoietic transplants. Response to antifungal therapy alone is often inadequate. Pro-inflammatory cytokines are critical for promoting innate and adaptive cellular antifungal immune responses. Recombinant cytokines, including granulocyte-macrophage-colony stimulating factor and interferon-gamma, have been studied as adjuvant therapies for severely immunosuppressed cancer patients with difficult-to-treat invasive mycoses. The limited clinical experience to date shows a possible benefit of these cytokines, and further controlled clinical trials are needed to validate their routine use in cancer patients and stem-cell transplant recipients with invasive fungal infections who are likely to have a poor response to antifungal drug therapy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Safdar
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D016207:Cytokines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009181:Mycoses / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D016207:Cytokines; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor