Roles of Different Signaling Pathways in Virulence.

is a widespread fungal pathogen that can infect the human central nervous system (CNS) and cause fungal meningitis, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide each year. Previous studies have demonstrated that many signal transduction pathways are crucial for the morphological development and virulence of . In this review, data from over 116 research articles have been compiled to show that many signaling pathways control various characteristics of , individually or in association with other pathways, and to establish strong links among them to better understand pathogenesis.

Mechanisms and Virulence Factors of Dissemination to the Central Nervous System.

Cryptococcosis is a prevalent fungal infection of the central nervous system (CNS) caused by , a yeast with a polysaccharide capsule in the basidiomycete group. Normally, infects the respiratory tract and then breaches the blood-brain barrier (BBB), leading to meningitis or meningoencephalitis, which leads to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Although the mechanism by which infiltrates the BBB to invade the brain has yet to be fully understood, research has revealed that can cross the BBB using transcellular penetration, paracellular traversal, and infected phagocytes (the "Trojan horse" mechanism).