Section of Immunology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Institute of Experimental Immunology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Parasite Immunol. 2023 Feb;45(2):e12948. doi: 10.1111/pim.12948. Epub 2022 Sep 20.
Fungi represent an integral part of the skin microbiota. Their complex interaction network with the host shapes protective immunity during homeostasis. If host defences are breached, skin-resident fungi including Malassezia and Candida, and environmental fungi such as dermatophytes can cause cutaneous infections. In addition, fungi are associated with diverse non-infectious skin disorders. Despite their multiple roles in health and disease, fungi remain elusive and understudied, and the mechanisms underlying the emergence of pathological conditions linked to fungi are largely unclear. The identification of IL-17 as an important antifungal effector mechanism represents a milestone for understanding homeostatic antifungal immunity. At the same time, host-adverse, disease-promoting roles of IL-17 have been delineated, as in psoriasis. Fungal dysbiosis represents another feature of many pathological skin conditions with an unknown causal link of intra- and interkingdom interactions to disease pathogenesis. The emergence of new fungal pathogens such as Candida auris highlights the need for more research into fungal immunology to understand how antifungal responses shape health and diseases. Recent technological advances for genetically manipulating fungi to target immunomodulatory fungal determinants, multi-omics approaches for studying immune cells in the human skin, and novel experimental models open up a promising future for skin fungal immunity.
真菌是皮肤微生物群的一个组成部分。它们与宿主的复杂相互作用网络在稳态时形成保护性免疫。如果宿主防御被打破，皮肤常驻真菌（如马拉色菌和假丝酵母菌）和环境真菌（如皮肤癣菌）可引起皮肤感染。此外，真菌还与多种非传染性皮肤疾病有关。尽管真菌在健康和疾病中具有多种作用，但它们仍然难以捉摸且研究不足，与真菌相关的病理状况出现的机制在很大程度上尚不清楚。IL-17 被确定为理解稳态抗真菌免疫的重要抗真菌效应机制，这是一个里程碑。与此同时，在银屑病等疾病中，IL-17 也被描绘为宿主不利的、促进疾病的作用。真菌失调是许多病理性皮肤状况的另一个特征，其涉及到种内和种间相互作用与疾病发病机制的因果关系尚不清楚。新的真菌病原体（如耳念珠菌）的出现突出表明，需要更多地研究真菌免疫学，以了解抗真菌反应如何塑造健康和疾病。目前，用于靶向免疫调节真菌决定因素的真菌基因操作技术、研究人类皮肤中免疫细胞的多组学方法以及新型实验模型，为皮肤真菌免疫带来了充满希望的未来。
