Figure 1. Fungal exposome components and their interaction with
the human host.
Fungi are ubiquitous in the outdoor and indoor environment, originating
in both natural and anthropic sources, and are collectively designated
as “external fungal exposome”. The internal fungal exposome consists
of the fungal part of the microbiota, or mycobiota, comprising fungi
found inside the human body or on its cutaneous and mucosal surfaces.
The most prevalent fungal genera in the external and internal exposomes
are shown. Fungi interact with other eukaryota, such asProtistae , and with bacterial, viral and archaeal components of
the mycobiota. The mucosal and systemic immune responses mounted by the
host in presence of fungi may contribute to preserve health or induce
fungal-related diseases. Upper left box: ± denotes inconstantly
demonstrated airborne fungal genera (as opposed to ubiquitous ones).
Figure 2. Normal versus pathological fungus – host
interactions. Here, Aspergillus fumigatus is taken as an example
of the balance between fungi and immune responses of the host, resulting
in preserved health or development of various diseases.
Figure 3. Determination of Aspergillus fumigatus-specific
IgE in serum. a, quantitative assays; b, semi-quantitative assays.a, The x axis denotes A. fumigatus -specific IgE levels
(kUA/L); b, the x axis denotes the number of responses for each
intensity class of A. fumigatus -specific IgE, shown as a discrete
0 to 6 scale on the y axis (0: no detectable A.
fumigatus -specific IgE; 6: very high A. fumigatus -specific IgE
result).
The lack of intermethod standardization results in high variability of
the results obtained with the same sample during an external quality
assessment program. The scattering of the results is seen with
quantitative as well as semi-quantitative assays. CV, coefficient of
variation, n, number of participating laboratories, SD, standard
deviation.