Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Wiesner, Darin L
• Klein, Bruce S

Titel

Lung epithelium: barrier immunity to inhaled fungi and driver of fungal-associated allergic asthma

Ist Teil von

• Current opinion in microbiology, 2017-12, Vol.40, p.8-13

Ort / Verlag

England: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals Complete

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •The lung epithelium orchestrates immune responses to inhaled fungi or their constituents.•Lung epithelium represents a ‘tipping point’ shaping protective or pathological responses.•Studies of lung epithelial cell interactions with inhaled fungi represent a research frontier. Fungi are ubiquitous in the environment. The epithelium that lines our airways is the first point of contact with the frequent encounter of inhaled fungi. Consequently, the lung epithelium has evolved behaviors that instruct the earliest immune events to resist fungal penetration. Although the epithelium efficiently assists in immunity to invasive fungi, it also can be inappropriately triggered, to the detriment of the host, by normally innocuous fungi or fungal components. Thus, there is a tipping point of protective immunity against fungal pathogens versus inflammatory disease caused by an exuberant immune response to harmless fungal antigens. This review will discuss several aspects of barrier immunity to pulmonary fungal infection, as well as situations where fungal exposure leads to allergic asthma.