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Immunology of Aspergillus and Aspergillosis: The Story So Far

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Aspergillosis: From Diagnosis to Prevention

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Abstract

Innate responses combine with adaptive immunity to generate the most effective form of anti-Aspergillus immune resistance, and T cells feedback onto a tenuous balance of diverse effects of inflammation on infection. Some degree of inflammation is required for protection – particularly in mucosal tissues – during the transitional response occurring temporally between the rapid innate and slower adaptive response. However, progressive inflammation worsens disease and ultimately prevents pathogen eradication. The newly described Th17 developmental pathway may play an inflammatory role previously attributed to uncontrolled Th1 responses and serves to accommodate the seemingly paradoxical association of chronic inflammatory responses with fungal persistence. The indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase enzyme (IDO) and regulatory T cells help to tame overzealous and exaggerated inflammatory responses and have become an integral component of immune resistance to the fungus in infections and diseases. Recent data support a view in which interleukin (IL)-23/IL-17 antagonistic strategies, including the administration of synthetic kynurenines and IDO expressing dendritic cells, could represent a new means of harnessing progressive or potentially harmful inflammation in infection and allergy to the fungus in different settings, including haematopoietic transplantation.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Cristina Massi Benedetti for digital art and editing. The original studies conducted in the author laboratory were supported by the Specific Targeted Research Project “MANASP” (LSHE-CT-2006), contract number 037899 (FP6).

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  1. Microbiology Section, Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical, University of Perugia, Via del Giochetto, Perugia, Italy

    Luigina Romani

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    Alessandro Comarú Pasqualotto

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Romani, L. (2009). Immunology of Aspergillus and Aspergillosis: The Story So Far. In: Comarú Pasqualotto, A. (eds) Aspergillosis: From Diagnosis to Prevention. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2408-4_3

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