Interferon-γ Therapy in Patients With Refractory Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis

Chen Wang¹, Brenna A LaBere², Michell M Lozano Chinga², Annalie J Harris¹, Lindsey B Rosen¹, Amanda Elias Rivera¹, Eva Le Run¹, Keith A Sacco³, Wassim Ballan⁴, James V Woodward⁵, Scott A Ostdiek⁴, Matthew W Smith⁴, Victoria L Anderson¹, Janine R Daub¹, Cindy L Palmer¹, Lavenda Chirombo Kluczynski¹, Andrew J Oler⁶, Magdalena A Walkiewicz⁷, Rajarshi Ghosh⁷, Morgan Similuk⁷, Fariba M Donovan^{8

9

10

11}, John Witt¹², Nicolas Barros^{12

13}, L Joseph Wheat¹², John N Galgiani^{8

9

10

11}, Alexandra F Freeman¹, Amy P Hsu¹, Christa S Zerbe¹, Steven M Holland¹

Affiliations

¹ Immunopathogenesis Section, Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
² Division of Allergy and Immunology, Phoenix Children's, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
³ Immunology Department, Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Phoenix Children's, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
⁵ Division of Pulmonology, Phoenix Children's, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
⁶ Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch, Office of Cyber Infrastructure and Computational Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁷ Centralized Sequencing Program, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁸ Valley Fever Center for Excellence, College of Medicine-Tucson, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
⁹ Department of Medicine, College of Medicine-Tucson, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Immunobiology, College of Medicine-Tucson, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
¹¹ BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
¹² MiraVista Diagnostics, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
¹³ Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

PMID: 40440413
DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciaf286

Review

Interferon-γ Therapy in Patients With Refractory Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis

Chen Wang et al. Clin Infect Dis. 2026.

. 2026 Feb 4;81(6):e544-e547.

doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaf286.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Immunopathogenesis Section, Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
² Division of Allergy and Immunology, Phoenix Children's, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
³ Immunology Department, Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Phoenix Children's, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
⁵ Division of Pulmonology, Phoenix Children's, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
⁶ Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch, Office of Cyber Infrastructure and Computational Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁷ Centralized Sequencing Program, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁸ Valley Fever Center for Excellence, College of Medicine-Tucson, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
⁹ Department of Medicine, College of Medicine-Tucson, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Immunobiology, College of Medicine-Tucson, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
¹¹ BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
¹² MiraVista Diagnostics, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
¹³ Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

PMID: 40440413
DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciaf286

Abstract

Refractory disseminated coccidioidomycosis (DCM) is a severe disease with limited treatment options. This report reviews our own and prior published experiences using adjunctive interferon-γ therapy in refractory DCM, showing overall favorable responses in patients without signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 gain-of-function mutations.

Keywords: antifungal therapies; disseminated coccidioidomycosis; interferon-γ; invasive fungal disease; signal transducer and activator of transcription 1.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America 2025.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. J. W., N. B., and L. J. W. are employees of MiraVista Diagnostics, a company that offers some of the described tests (antigen and antibody testing) commercially. All other authors report no potential conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

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Interferon-γ Therapy in Patients With Refractory Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis

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Interferon-γ Therapy in Patients With Refractory Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis

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