Lymphocytes

Abstract

Lymphocytes play a critical role in the defense against viral, bacterial and fungal infections. In the last few years our understanding of lymphocyte involvement in response to fungi has dramatically increased. Recent studies examining the immunopathogenesis of fungal infections have provided major insight into the crucial role of different T lymphocyte subsets in protection. The controlled activation of the Thl subset is the common denominator for ensuring protection against most fungal infections. However, nature of fungal organism (commensal opportunistic or frank pathogen), site of infection (local or systemic) and host susceptibility dictate kinetics, magnitude, and character of T lymphocyte responses in a highly complex, intricate regulatory pattern. This chapter describes progress in some of the major experimental models of lymphocyte-mediated immunity to fungal infections