Division of Immunology, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and Maryland Pathogen Research Institute, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2021 Apr;78(7):3219-3238. doi: 10.1007/s00018-020-03736-z. Epub 2021 Jan 15.
Fungal infections are an increasing threat to global public health. There are more than six million fungal species worldwide, but less than 1% are known to infect humans. Most of these fungal infections are superficial, affecting the hair, skin and nails, but some species are capable of causing life-threatening diseases. The most common of these include Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans. These fungi are typically innocuous and even constitute a part of the human microbiome, but if these pathogens disseminate throughout the body, they can cause fatal infections which account for more than one million deaths worldwide each year. Thus, systemic dissemination of fungi is a critical step in the development of these deadly infections. In this review, we discuss our current understanding of how fungi disseminate from the initial infection sites to the bloodstream, how immune cells eliminate fungi from circulation and how fungi leave the blood and enter distant organs, highlighting some recent advances and offering some perspectives on future directions.
真菌感染对全球公共卫生构成日益严重的威胁。全球有超过 600 万种真菌，但已知能感染人类的真菌不到 1%。这些真菌感染大多数为浅表性，影响头发、皮肤和指甲，但有些物种能够引起危及生命的疾病。其中最常见的包括新型隐球菌、烟曲霉和白色念珠菌。这些真菌通常是无害的，甚至构成了人类微生物组的一部分，但如果这些病原体在全身传播，它们可能导致致命感染，每年在全球造成超过 100 万人死亡。因此，真菌的全身传播是这些致命感染发展的关键步骤。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了我们目前对真菌如何从初始感染部位传播到血液、免疫细胞如何从循环中清除真菌以及真菌如何离开血液并进入远处器官的理解，强调了一些最新进展，并对未来方向提供了一些观点。
