Adaptive immunity to fungi.
Life-threatening fungal infections have risen sharply in recent years, owing to the advances and intensity of medical care that may blunt immunity in patients. This emerging crisis has created the growing need to clarify immune defense mechanisms against fungi with the ultimate goal of therapeutic intervention. We describe recent insights in understanding the mammalian immune defenses that are deployed against pathogenic fungi. We focus on adaptive immunity to the major medically important fungi and emphasize three elements that coordinate the response: (1) dendritic cells and subsets that are mobilized against fungi in various anatomical compartments; (2) fungal molecular patterns and their corresponding receptors that signal responses and shape the differentiation of T-cell subsets and B cells; and, ultimately (3) the effector and regulatory mechanisms that eliminate these invaders while constraining collateral damage to vital tissue. These insights create a foundation for the development of new, immune-based strategies for prevention or enhanced clearance of systemic fungal diseases.
Veterans Affairs Hospital, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio 45220 Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267.
Akash
A
Verma
Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin 53792.
Marcel
M
Wüthrich
Veterans Affairs Hospital, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio 45220 Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267.
George
G
Deepe
Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin 53792 Internal Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin 53792 Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin 53792.
Bruce
B
Klein
D056704:Adaptive Immunity; D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D005658:Fungi / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D051379:Mice; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology; D009181:Mycoses / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D051192:Receptors, Pattern Recognition / Q000276:immunology; D015398:Signal Transduction; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*
D051192:Receptors, Pattern Recognition