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Review
. 2014 Nov 10;5(6):a019620.
doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a019620.

Innate Defense against Fungal Pathogens

Rebecca A Drummond  1 , Sarah L Gaffen  2 , Amy G Hise  3 , Gordon D Brown  1
Affiliations
Review

Innate Defense against Fungal Pathogens

Rebecca A Drummond et al. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. .

Abstract

Human fungal infections have been on the rise in recent years and proved increasingly difficult to treat as a result of the lack of diagnostics, effective antifungal therapies, and vaccines. Most pathogenic fungi do not cause disease unless there is a disturbance in immune homeostasis, which can be caused by modern medical interventions, disease-induced immunosuppression, and naturally occurring human mutations. The innate immune system is well equipped to recognize and destroy pathogenic fungi through specialized cells expressing a broad range of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). This review will outline the cells and PRRs required for effective antifungal immunity, with a special focus on the major antifungal cytokine IL-17 and recently characterized antifungal inflammasomes.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The PRRs discussed herein are depicted showing the fungal species they recognize and downstream effector functions they mediate following recognition. Receptor collaboration between Dectin-1 and TLR-2, and Dectin-1 and Dectin-2, is also indicated by conjoining arrows. See main text for all references.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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