title: Immune Response to Coccidioidomycosis and the Development of a Vaccine.
abstract: Coccidioidomycosis is a fungal infection caused byCoccidioides posadasiiandCoccidioides immitis. It is estimated that 150,000 new infections occur in the United States each year. The incidence of this infection continues to rise in endemic regions. There is an urgent need for the development of better therapeutic drugs and a vaccine against coccidioidomycosis. This review discusses the features of host innate and adaptive immune responses toCoccidioidesinfection. The focus is on the recent advances in the immune response and host-pathogen interactions, including the recognition of spherules by the host and defining the signal pathways that guide the development of the adaptive T-cell response toCoccidioidesinfection. Also discussed is an update on progress in developing a vaccine against these fungal pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA. jpm915@my.utsa.edu.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Castro-Lopez
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA. Chiungyu.Hung@UTSA.edu.|Immune Defense Core, University of Texas, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA. Chiungyu.Hung@UTSA.edu.
authors.forename: Chiung-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Hung
keywords: Coccidioides; Coccidioides vaccine; San Joaquin Valley fever; T-cell response; coccidioidomycosis; fungal infection; innate immunity