TY - JOUR AU - Norris, Karen AU - Rabacal, Whitney AU - Rayens, Emily PY - 2018 DA - 2018/12/27 TI - <em>Pneumocystis</em> as a Co-Factor in Pulmonary Diseases JO - OBM Genetics SP - 057 VL - 02 IS - 04 AB - Pneumocystis causes life-threatening pneumonia in immunocompromised populations. More recently it has been implicated as a co-factor in a number of chronic lung diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), severe asthma, and cystic fibrosis. In this review, we will examine the current literature regarding Pneumocystis and lung diseases in the HIV and non-HIV immunocompromised populations, and the barriers to prophylaxis and treatment in these patients. Trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) is an effective therapeutic against Pneumocystis but this approach remains problematic due to drug interactions, lack of established protocols, treatment-limiting adverse events and break-through Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) despite prophylaxis. This review summarizes the shortcomings of current prophylaxis and treatment strategies, and the advances that have been made toward the development of novel diagnostics and therapeutics, with a focus on vaccine development. SN - 2577-5790 UR - https://doi.org/10.21926/obm.genet.1804057 DO - 10.21926/obm.genet.1804057 ID - Norris2018 ER -