Fungal cell wall components modulate our immune system

Benoit Briard (1) , Thierry Fontaine (2) , Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti (3) , Neil A.R. Gow (4, 5) , Nicolas Papon (6, 7)

1 CEPR - Centre d’Etude des Pathologies Respiratoires (CEPR), UMR 1100
2 BPF - Biologie et Pathogénicité fongiques - Fungal Biology and Pathogenicity
3 St Jude Children's Research Hospital
4 University of Aberdeen
5 University of Exeter
6 GEIHP - Groupe d'Étude des Interactions Hôte-Pathogène
7 ICAT - SFR UA 4208 Interactions Cellulaires et Applications Thérapeutiques

Invasive fungal infections remain highly problematic for human health. Collectively, they account for more than 1 million deaths a year in addition to more than 100 million mucosal infections and 1 billion skin infections. To be able to make progress it is important to understand the pathobiology of fungal interactions with the immune system. Here, we highlight new advancements pointing out the pivotal role of fungal cell wall components (β-glucan, mannan, galactosaminogalactan and melanin) in modulating host immunity and discuss how these open new opportunities for the development of immunomodulatory strategies to combat deadly fungal infectious diseases.

Keywords: Cell death; Cell wall; Immunometabolism; Inflammasome; Innate immunity; Melanin; PANoptosis; Polysaccharides; Pyroptosis; Trained immunity

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Immunology; Innate immunity

Benoit Briard, Thierry Fontaine, Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti, Neil A.R. Gow, Nicolas Papon. Fungal cell wall components modulate our immune system. The Cell Surface, 2021, 7, pp.100067. ⟨10.1016/j.tcsw.2021.100067⟩. ⟨pasteur-03501321⟩