Immunotherapy of aspergillosis

We thank C. M. Benedetti for digital art and editing.Management of invasive aspergillosis in high-risk patients remains challenging. There is an increasing demand for novel therapeutic strategies aimed at enhancing or restoring antifungal immunity in immunocompromised patients. In this regard, modulation of specific innate immune functions and vaccination are promising immunotherapeutic strategies. Recent findings have also provided a compelling rationale for assessment of the contribution of the individual genetic profile to the immunotherapy outcome. Altogether, integration of immunological and genetic data may contribute to the optimization of therapeutic strategies exerting control over immune pathways, ultimately improving the management of fungal infections in high-risk settings.The studies were supported by the Specific Targeted Research Project ALLFUN (FP7-HEALTH-2009 contract number 260338 to L. Romani) and by the Fondazione per la Ricerca sulla Fibrosi Cistica (FFC#21/2010 to L. Romani, with the contribution of Francesca Guadagnin, Coca Cola light Tribute to Fashion and Delegazione FFC di Belluno). C. Cunha and A. Carvalho were financially supported by fellowships from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal (contracts SFRH/ BD/65962/2009 and SFRH/BPD/46292/2008, respectively)