Development of vaccines and their use in the prevention of fungal infections

Vaccine approaches to infectious diseases are widely applied and appreciated. Disciplines such as bacteriology and virology have a rich history of successful vaccine development. The complexity of eukaryotic systems presents additional challenges to the development of vaccines against them. These challenges are being met in the fields of parasitology, and are being revisited for application in oncology. Vaccine opportunities exist in medical mycology. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has held a series of workshops in medical mycology where the need to develop vaccines for fungal diseases was noted and where important opportunities were discussed. Major advances in vaccinology and the technology of antigen preparation and delivery have increased feasibility and heightened interest. The recent epidemic of coccidioidomycosis in the American Southwest has demonstrated the need for developing a vaccine as an effective preventive measure for those living in and for those who subsequently move into regions with the endemic mycoses. The XIIth Congress of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology included a symposium that summarized new vaccination strategies for selected fungi: Candida albicans, Coccidioides immitis, and Trichophyton verrucosum. The goal of the present summary is to provide representative examples of continuing efforts relating to vaccine development within the medical mycological community highlighting Blastomyces dermatidis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Histoplasma capsulatum, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, and Pythiumn insidiosum.