Table 1.

Virulence factors of dermatophytes.

Virulence factor	Description and function	References
Subtilisin-like proteases (Sub)	Endoprotease activity in keratin digestion. Reported as allergens and involved in immune response induction.	Woodfolk et al. (13). Gao and Takashima (14). Burmester et al. (15). Eymann et al. (16). Karami Robati et al. (17). Mehul et al. (18). Reviewed in Mercer and Stewart (9).
Fungalysin-like Metalloproteases (Mep)	Endoprotease activity in keratin digestion.	Burmester et al. (15). Eymann et al. (16).
Leucinaminopeptidases (Lap)	Exoprotease activity in keratin digestion.	Burmester et al. (15). Eymann et al. (16).
Dipeptidyl peptidases (Dpp)	Exoprotease activity in keratin digestion.	Burmester et al. (15). Eymann et al. (16).
Secondary metabolite production-associated enzymes	Polyketide synthase and non-ribosomal peptide synthetase.	Burmester et al. (15). Martínez et al. (19).
Cysteine dioxygenases	Sulfitolysis of keratin. Involved in triggering humoral immune response during infection.	Grumbt et al. (20). Eymann et al. (16). Reviewed in Mercer and Stewart (9).
Hydrophobins	Hydrophobin rodlet layer on conidial surface. Related to avoiding immune recognition by neutrophils.	Heddergott et al. (21). Eymann et al. (16).
Extracellular vesicles	Unknown cargo, probably virulence factors. Related with modulation of the host response.	Bitencourt et al. (22)
LysM proteins	Protein domains related to binding to skin glycoproteins. Possibly involved in immune evasion.	Martinez et al. (19). Kar et al. (23)
Heat shock proteins	Hsp 30, Hsp60, Hsp70. Associated with adaptation to human temperature, keratin digestion.	Reviewed in Martinez-Rossi et al. (24).
Other hydrolases and cell wall remodeling-associated enzymes.	Lipases, glucanases, chitinases, betaglusidases, mannosyl transferases. Many involved in triggering humoral immune response during infection.	Burmester et al. (15). Martínez et al. (19). Eymann et al. (16). Martins et al. (25).