About this Research Topic
Mucormycosis is a life-threatening respiratory disease caused by certain species of the fungal order Mucorales, which can manifest in various ways depending on the affected organ. Mucorales are ubiquitous, opportunistic airborne filamentous fungi (molds) that affect immunocompromised patients with impaired phagocyte function. As opposite to other fungal pathogens, Mucorales cause invasive disease in individuals with metabolic abnormalities, including poorly controlled diabetes mellitus, acidosis, malnutrition, critical illness, burns or major trauma. Mucormycosis epidemiology is rapidly evolving over the years, and the disease incidence surged up to 50 times during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mortality rate of mucormycosis is alarmingly high, exceeding 40% overall and almost 100% in case of disseminated infection. This high mortality rate is partly attributed to the intrinsic resistance of Mucorales to almost all available antifungal agents and the unique virulence properties of this class of fungal pathogens.
Mucormycosis faces the challenge of high mortality rates, which have not significantly improved despite the development of new antifungal therapies in recent years. Several factors contribute to the poor outcome of mucormycosis, including (a) the delayed diagnosis as a result of the scarcity of molecular diagnostic tools, (b) the incompletely understood immunopathogenesis of the disease that prevents the development of host-directed therapies, and (c) the limited therapeutic options due to the complex and largely uncharacterized mechanisms of Mucorales resistance to antifungal agents. A better disease outcome necessitates increasing our knowledge of Mucorales biology, physiological interactions with the immune system and key pathogenesis mechanisms leading to disease development. Through this Research Topic, we aim to provide recent advances in understanding the development and treatment of the infection.
We invite the submission of original research articles, reviews, mini-reviews, and brief research reports for this Research Topic, which may encompass various themes, including those listed below but not limited to them:
• New tools and methods for rapid diagnosis of mucormycosis.
• Advances in the treatment of mucormycosis.
• Host response to mucoralean infections.
• Molecular mechanisms underlying innate and acquired antifungal resistance of Mucorales.
• Molecular mechanisms involved in the infection ability of Mucorales.
• Genomic regulation of the response to host defenses in Mucorales.
Mucormycosis faces the challenge of high mortality rates, which have not significantly improved despite the development of new antifungal therapies in recent years. Several factors contribute to the poor outcome of mucormycosis, including (a) the delayed diagnosis as a result of the scarcity of molecular diagnostic tools, (b) the incompletely understood immunopathogenesis of the disease that prevents the development of host-directed therapies, and (c) the limited therapeutic options due to the complex and largely uncharacterized mechanisms of Mucorales resistance to antifungal agents. A better disease outcome necessitates increasing our knowledge of Mucorales biology, physiological interactions with the immune system and key pathogenesis mechanisms leading to disease development. Through this Research Topic, we aim to provide recent advances in understanding the development and treatment of the infection.
We invite the submission of original research articles, reviews, mini-reviews, and brief research reports for this Research Topic, which may encompass various themes, including those listed below but not limited to them:
• New tools and methods for rapid diagnosis of mucormycosis.
• Advances in the treatment of mucormycosis.
• Host response to mucoralean infections.
• Molecular mechanisms underlying innate and acquired antifungal resistance of Mucorales.
• Molecular mechanisms involved in the infection ability of Mucorales.
• Genomic regulation of the response to host defenses in Mucorales.
Keywords: Fungal infection, diagnosis, host response, virulent factors, drug resistance, pathogenesis, gene regulation
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