Mechanisms of resistance to fungal infections.

In the past year, significant advances have been made in our understanding of immune defenses to fungal infections, which may be instrumental in the development of rational approaches to immunodiagnosis and therapy of these infections. The highlights have been the result of the direct application of advances in molecular biology and basic immunology, particularly cytokine research, leading to improved definition of fungal antigens and increased understanding of the roles of functionally distinct T-cell subsets, the activity of which may be either host-protective or disease-promoting.