Immune response in primary fungal infection

Murugova A.A., Lipnitsky A.V., Polovets N.V.

Volgograd Plague Control Research Institute, Volgograd, Russia

Invasive mycoses are a group of extremely dangerous fungal diseases caused by dimorphic fungi such as Coccidioides, Histoplasma, Blastomyces, Paracoccidioides. These primary pathogens possess the potential to infect immunocompetent hosts and act as opportunistic microorganisms in immunocompromised patients. Dimorphic pathogens are endemic to the Western hemisphere, with the majority of humans in highly endemic areas infected by these organisms. Innate immunity is a key to resistance formation before the antigen-specific (adaptive) immune response is activated. Thus, people with T-cell deficiency frequently develop severe conditions and potentially lethal outcomes. Receptors on the surface of the host immune cells interact with primary fungal pathogens. Th1 and Th17 immune response mechanisms are associated with recruting and activating neutrophils and macrophages to the site of infection as well as production of chemokines and pro-inflammatory cytokines. This review is focused on the interaction of primary pathogenic fungi with the human innate and adaptive immune system and considers the problem of immunoprophylaxis of invasive mycoses.