Host-pathogen interaction in infection: current knowledge and implications for antifungal therapy.

INTRODUCTION

The opportunistic fungal pathogen poses a clinical challenge in the successful treatment of invasive infections, owing to its low inherent susceptibility toward azole antifungals and the recent acquisition of coresistance toward azole and echinocandin drugs. Compared to other prevalent bloodstream pathogens, neither exhibits secreted proteolytic activity nor invokes a strong immune response in a variety of host cells and is less virulent. It also does not form true hyphae, and the success of , therefore, as a prevalent human fungal pathogen, appears to be built upon a distinct set of virulence attributes.

AREAS COVERED

The focus of this review is to outline, in brief, the interaction of with the host, deduced from the knowledge gained from different and model systems. In addition, we briefly discuss the current antifungals, antifungal resistance mechanisms, and the development of new antifungal therapies, along with the available information on the host response.

EXPERT OPINION

A detailed understanding of stresses, selection pressures and differential immune responses in the presence and absence of antifungals that encounters in varied niches of the host, is required to design effective antifungal therapy.