Abstract

Immunodiagnostic testing in fungal infection directly depends on immunological interaction of fungi with host. Eukaryotic nature of host and fungal pathogen raise a challenge to treat infection on time and require extensive investigation on time. This chapter highlights sample collection and processing in laboratory for fungal diagnosis. Fungal antigens used for immunological diagnosis are polysaccharides, glycoproteins, and proteins. Among these, polysaccharides are most abundantly used. Major immunological techniques used for fungal diagnosis are immunofluorescence, immunoperoxidase staining, counter-immunoelectrophoresis, immunodiffusion, immunoblotting, latex particle agglutination, tube precipitin, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We review the major advances to understand the disease progression and the involvement of immunological mechanisms in host defenses against the parasite. In addition, several immunodiagnostic tests and potential antigens for diagnosis are mainly discussed in detail to present current status and future perspectives of the immunodiagnosis of fungal diseases. It is concluded that proper fungal diagnosis can be done using antigen-antibody interaction at a cheap price. However, a continued screening is required for novel antigen which allows researcher to develop new diagnostic methods to follow the progression of disease. It is also suggested that limitations of the currently available rapid tests for point-of-care diagnosis of fungal diseases can be surpassed by fusing molecular biology techniques and immunodiagnostic procedures along with other conventional devices and techniques.

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