TLRPolymorphisms and the Risk of Invasive Fungal Infections

Abstract

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation is a potentially lifesaving cancer therapy that, at least temporarily, renders patients highly immunocompromised and vulnerable to infection. Aspergillus fumigatus, a common environmental fungus that causes invasive infections in immunocompromised persons, is particularly problematic in patients who have undergone this treatment.1 Although the risk of the development of aspergillosis correlates with the degree of immunosuppression and the intensity of exposure to fungal spores, these factors alone do not explain why this infection develops in approximately 5 to 10% of patients who have received these transplants, whereas it does not develop in the remaining 90 to 95% . . .

Part of CIRS Nexus · Curated by Lauren Lowenstein, The Biotoxin Lady