Recent advances in antifungal immunity.

Fungal infections are increasingly recognised as a major threat to global human health, with several million preventable deaths each year now attributable to fungal diseases. Climate change, global pandemics and increased use of antibiotics and immune-suppressing drugs in modern medicine have all contributed towards recent rises in the number of cases of life-threatening fungal infections. To circumvent these trends, it is imperative that we develop a deeper understanding of the immune responses that operate to protect against fungal invasion if we are to develop adjunctive immune-based therapies for these infections. Recent work has already demonstrated how mechanistic insights into antifungal immune responses can yield therapeutic benefits. This chapter covers the major processes, cells and receptors that are required for successful antifungal immune responses, focusing on recent developments that have driven significant new step-changes in our understanding of how these pathogens are detected and removed from the body.