Evaluation of research techniques to study fungal evasion

Abstract

The incidence of patients with fungal infections is increased due to increased numbers of immunosuppresed individuals. Opportunistic fungi are a major cause of death under vulnerable patients with a compromised immune system. To better understand how fungi are able to infect humans, much research have been done to study the interplay between fungi and the human immune system and how fungi are able to escape from the immune defence. Interestingly, fungi that cause endemic as well as fungi causing opportunistic infections have developed immune evasion mechanisms. These evasion strategies involve escape from recognition by pattern recognition receptors, modulation immune responses, interference with intracellular trafficking and resistance against oxidative stress and antimicrobial components. To study this evasion mechanisms, many different specific assays can be used. General techniques, such as, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and secretomics are useful to reveal many genes and proteins that are involved in the fungal escape from the immune defence. Moreover, chromatin immunoprecipitation, gene modifications and RNA interference can be used as a tool to identify the binding site of DNA binding proteins (such as transcription factors and repressors) and the functions of genes that involved in evasion mechanisms.