Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Feb 19;10(2):236.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens10020236.

Pneumocystis Pneumonia: Immunity, Vaccines, and Treatments

Aaron D Gingerich  1   2 , Karen A Norris  1   2 , Jarrod J Mousa  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Pneumocystis Pneumonia: Immunity, Vaccines, and Treatments

Aaron D Gingerich et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

For individuals who are immunocompromised, the opportunistic fungal pathogen Pneumocystis jirovecii is capable of causing life-threatening pneumonia as the causative agent of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). PCP remains an acquired immunodeficiency disease (AIDS)-defining illness in the era of antiretroviral therapy. In addition, a rise in non-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated PCP has been observed due to increased usage of immunosuppressive and immunomodulating therapies. With the persistence of HIV-related PCP cases and associated morbidity and mortality, as well as difficult to diagnose non-HIV-related PCP cases, an improvement over current treatment and prevention standards is warranted. Current therapeutic strategies have primarily focused on the administration of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, which is effective at disease prevention. However, current treatments are inadequate for treatment of PCP and prevention of PCP-related death, as evidenced by consistently high mortality rates for those hospitalized with PCP. There are no vaccines in clinical trials for the prevention of PCP, and significant obstacles exist that have slowed development, including host range specificity, and the inability to culture Pneumocystis spp. in vitro. In this review, we overview the immune response to Pneumocystis spp., and discuss current progress on novel vaccines and therapies currently in the preclinical and clinical pipeline.

Keywords: Pneumocystis jirovecii; Pneumocystis pneumonia; fungal vaccines.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

J.J.M. declares no conflicts of interest. K.A.N. has a financial interest in a company and is co-inventor of inventions related to some research reported in the enclosed paper. There is an approved plan in place with the University of Georgia for managing any potential conflict.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of drugs currently in use or in clinical trials for prevention and treatment of Pneumocystis infection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chabe M., Aliouat-Denis C.M., Delhaes L., El Moukhtar A., Viscogliosi E., Dei-Cas E. Pneumocystis: From a doubtful unique entity to a group of highly diversified fungal species. FEMS Yeast Res. 2011;11:2–17. doi: 10.1111/j.1567-1364.2010.00698.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Edman J.C., Kovacs J.A., Masur H., Santi D.V., Elwood H.J., Sogin M.L. Ribosomal RNA sequence shows Pneumocystis carinii to be a member of the fungi. Nature. 1988;334:519–522. doi: 10.1038/334519a0. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aliouat-Denis C.M., Chabe M., Demanche C., Aliouat el M., Viscogliosi E., Guillot J., Delhaes L., Dei-Cas E. Pneumocystis species, co-evolution and pathogenic power. Infect. Genet. Evol. 2008;8:708–726. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2008.05.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Benedict K., Jackson B.R., Chiller T., Beer K.D. Estimation of Direct Healthcare Costs of Fungal Diseases in the United States. Clin. Infect. Dis. 2019;68:1791–1797. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciy776. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brown G.D., Denning D.W., Gow N.A.R., Levitz S.M., Netea M.G., White T.C. Hidden Killers: Human Fungal Infections. Sci. Transl. Med. 2012;4:165rv113. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3004404. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources