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Immunity to fungi

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New Insights in Medical Mycology

The kingdom of fungi consists of a number of species that are associated with a wide spectrum of diseases in humans and animals, ranging from allergy and autoimmunity to life-threatening infections. Most fungi (such as Histoplasma capsulatum, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, Coccidioides immitis, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Pneumocystis jirovecii) are ubiquitous in the environment. Some, including Candida albicans, establish lifelong commensalism on human body surfaces. Not surprisingly, therefore, human beings are constantly exposed to fungi, primarily through inhalation or traumatic implantation of fungal elements. The most common of the human diseases caused by fungi are the opportunistic fungal infections that occur in patients with defective immunity. This chapter is an advanced attempt to analyze the role of innate and adaptive immunity in resistance to pathogenic fungi. Through the involvement of different pattern recognition receptors, cells of the innate immune system not only discriminate between the different forms of fungi, but also contribute to discrimination between self and pathogens at the level of the adaptive T helper (Th) immunity (Romani, 2004b and references therein). Thus, the traditional dichotomy between the functions of innate and adaptive immunity in response to fungi has been recently challenged by the concept of an integrated immune response to fungi (Romani, 2004b and references therein).

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  1. Department of Experimental edicine and Biochemical Sciences, University of Perugia, Via del Giochetto, 06122, Perugia, Italy

    Luigina Romani

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  1. Luigina Romani
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  1. Department of Biology, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland

    Kevin Kavanagh

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Romani, L. (2007). Immunity to fungi. In: Kavanagh, K. (eds) New Insights in Medical Mycology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6397-8_1

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