Over the past decade fungal infectious diseases have increased as the population of immunocompromised individuals has expanded due to aggressive cancer therapy and AIDS. Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic human pathogenic fungus that causes cryptococcosis, which commonly presents as a disseminated meningoencephalitis that is universally fatal if untreated. An integral and defining feature of cryptococcosis is the ability of C. neoformans to cross the blood-brain barrier. In recent years the process of C. neoformans entry into the central nervous system (CNS) has begun to be elucidated, but the methods by which C. neoformans induces these processes remains unknown. If the mechanisms by which C. neoformans crosses the blood-brain barrier can be identified and characterized, treatment strategies can be designed to reduce C. neoformans entry into the CNS to alleviate disease symptoms and permit increased exposure to antifungal drugs
