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Pathogens
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Rare Fungal Infection Studies
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Rare Fungal Infection Studies

A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817). This special issue belongs to the section "Fungal Pathogens".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 2635

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Rebecca A. Drummond

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Immunology & Immunotherapy, Institute of Microbiology & Infection, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Interests: infectious disease; myeloid cells; C-type lectins; innate recognition; medical mycology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fungal infections cause thousands of deaths every year and are only increasing as immunocompromised populations rise due to increased use of immunosuppressing medical interventions. Current anti-fungal therapies exist but are limited in their approach as anti-fungal resistance increases. Furthermore, as global climate change continues, it is predicted that fungal pathogens normally restricted to more temperate or tropical environments may spread as the planet temperature rises. Well known pathogenic fungal infections (i.e Cryptococcosis, Invasive Aspergillosis, Candidiasis) are known to cause severe infection and comprise a large proportion of fungal research. However, rarer fungal infections (Murcormycosis, Invasive Trichosporonosis, Fusarium keratitis, Coccidioidomycosis) also cause severe disease and mortality in both immunocompromised and competent populations with equally limited treatment. As these fungal pathogens are rarer, the scope of their research is underdeveloped yet equally important as anti-fungal resistance and ability to propagate in new environments continues.

For this special issue, we invite you to submit original or review articles on rare fungal infection research, hospital cases and clinical report studies.

Dr. Rebecca A. Drummond
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • rare
  • fungal infections
  • fungal pathogenesis
  • anti-fungal therapies
  • fungal case study
  • hospital report

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Review

28 pages, 2253 KiB  
Review
Signaling Pathways Regulating Dimorphism in Medically Relevant Fungal Species
by Uriel Ramírez-Sotelo, Manuela Gómez-Gaviria and Héctor M. Mora-Montes
Pathogens 2025, 14(4), 350; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens14040350 - 4 Apr 2025
Viewed by 694
Abstract
Pathogenic fungi that exhibit the ability to alternate between hyphal and yeast morphology in response to environmental stimuli are considered dimorphic. Under saprobic conditions, some fungi exist as filamentous hyphae, producing conidia. When conidia are inhaled by mammals or traumatically inoculated, body temperature [...] Read more.
Pathogenic fungi that exhibit the ability to alternate between hyphal and yeast morphology in response to environmental stimuli are considered dimorphic. Under saprobic conditions, some fungi exist as filamentous hyphae, producing conidia. When conidia are inhaled by mammals or traumatically inoculated, body temperature (37 °C) triggers dimorphism into yeast cells. This shift promotes fungal dissemination and immune evasion. Some fungal pathogens undergo dimorphism in the contrary way, forming pseudohyphae and hyphae within the host. While temperature is a major driver of dimorphism, other factors, including CO2 concentration, pH, nitrogen sources, and quorum-sensing molecules, also contribute to morphological shifts. This morphological transition is associated with increased expression of virulence factors that aid in adhesion, colonization, and immune evasion. Candida albicans is a fungus that is commonly found as a commensal on human mucous membranes but has the potential to be an opportunistic fungal pathogen of immunocompromised patients. C. albicans exhibits a dimorphic change from the yeast form to the hyphal form when it becomes established as a pathogen. In contrast, Histoplasma capsulatum is an environmental dimorphic fungus where human infection begins when conidia or hyphal fragments of the fungus are inhaled into the alveoli, where the dimorphic change to yeast occurs, this being the morphology associated with its pathogenic phase. This review examines the main signaling pathways that have been mostly related to fungal dimorphism, using as a basis the information available in the literature on H. capsulatum and C. albicans because these fungi have been widely studied for the morphological transition from hypha to yeast and from yeast to hypha, respectively. In addition, we have included the reported findings of these signaling pathways associated with the dimorphism of other pathogenic fungi, such as Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, Sporothrix schenckii, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Blastomyces dermatitis. Understanding these pathways is essential for advancing therapeutic approaches against systemic fungal infections. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rare Fungal Infection Studies)
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23 pages, 509 KiB  
Review
Invasive Fungal Disease After Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T Immunotherapy in Adult and Pediatric Patients
by Paschalis Evangelidis, Konstantinos Tragiannidis, Athanasios Vyzantiadis, Nikolaos Evangelidis, Panagiotis Kalmoukos, Timoleon-Achilleas Vyzantiadis, Athanasios Tragiannidis, Maria Kourti and Eleni Gavriilaki
Pathogens 2025, 14(2), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens14020170 - 8 Feb 2025
Viewed by 1360
Abstract
Invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) have been documented among the causes of post-chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cell immunotherapy complications, with the incidence of IFDs in CAR-T cell therapy recipients being measured between 0% and 10%, globally. IFDs are notorious for their potentially life-threatening nature [...] Read more.
Invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) have been documented among the causes of post-chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cell immunotherapy complications, with the incidence of IFDs in CAR-T cell therapy recipients being measured between 0% and 10%, globally. IFDs are notorious for their potentially life-threatening nature and challenging diagnosis and treatment. In this review, we searched the recent literature aiming to examine the risk factors and epidemiology of IFDs post-CAR-T infusion. Moreover, the role of antifungal prophylaxis is investigated. CAR-T cell therapy recipients are especially vulnerable to IFDs due to several risk factors that contribute to the patient’s immunosuppression. Those include the underlying hematological malignancies, the lymphodepleting chemotherapy administered before the treatment, existing leukopenia and hypogammaglobinemia, and the use of high-dose corticosteroids and interleukin-6 blockers as countermeasures for immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome and cytokine release syndrome, respectively. IFDs mostly occur within the first 60 days following the infusion of the T cells, but cases even a year after the infusion have been described. Aspergillus spp., Candida spp., and Pneumocystis jirovecii are the main cause of these infections following CAR-T cell therapy. More real-world data regarding the epidemiology of IFDs and the role of antifungal prophylaxis in this population are essential. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rare Fungal Infection Studies)
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