Abstract
Pathogenic fungi have developed many strategies to evade the host immune system. Multiple escape mechanisms appear to function together to inhibit attack by the various stages of both the adaptive and the innate immune response. Thus, after entering the host, such pathogens fight to overcome the immune system to allow their survival, colonization and spread to different sites of infection. Consequently, the establishment of a successful infectious process is closely related to the ability of the pathogen to modulate attack by the immune system. Most strategies employed to subvert or exploit the immune system are shared among different species of fungi. In this review, we summarize the main strategies employed for immune evasion by some of the major pathogenic fungi.
Highlights
The increasing occurrence of fungal infectious diseases represents a major challenge for human health worldwide
The few years are certain to identify additional means by which fungi modulate immune functions and provide new insights regarding challenging questions related to fungal pathogenesis
Conventional antifungal therapy associated with adjuvant immunotherapy appears to be the prominent treatment for fungal infections because failure therapy, rather than the absence of effective antifungal agents, has the highest correlation to ineffective host defense mechanisms
Summary
The increasing occurrence of fungal infectious diseases represents a major challenge for human health worldwide. It is estimated that the total number of fungal species exceeds 1.5 million (Hawksworth, 2001), and among these species, more than 600 are reported to be capable of infecting humans and animals, causing simple to fatal infections (Brown et al, 2012b). These infections lead to a wide range of diseases that include allergies, superficial infections, and invasive mycoses (Denning and Bromley, 2015), which are often associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality (Post et al, 2007). In immunocompromised hosts, the fungus can more evade detection by host defense components and eventually establish ensuing disease (Hage et al, 2002; Chai et al, 2009)
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