title: Friend or foe: using systems biology to elucidate interactions between fungi and their hosts.
abstract: Modelling the networks sustaining the fruitful coexistence between fungi and their mammalian hosts is becoming increasingly important to control emerging fungal pathogens. In a 'systems biology' perspective, the microbiota and host should be seen as an ecosystem, and disease considered as an alteration of the equilibrium. This review addresses host-fungus interaction with a special focus on systems biology approaches to investigate the mechanisms developed by Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus to circumvent host immune responses during fungal infections. Such genome-wide integrative approaches hold the promise to significantly improve our ability to understand which fungal traits can be considered potential threats and the regulatory networks involved in immune subversion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preclinical and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Florence, viale Pieraccini 6, 50139 Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rizzetto
authors.forename: Duccio
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cavalieri
mesh_terms: D001232:Aspergillus fumigatus / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005658:Fungi / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D009181:Mycoses / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D049490:Systems Biology / Q000379:methods*; D014774:Virulence