Table 3.

Overview of the advantages and disadvantages of the major fungal vaccine categories.

Vaccine Category	Advantages	Disadvantages	Representative vaccines
Live-attenuated	Strong and long-lasting immunogenicity; manufacturing processes are straightforward	Risk of sustained infection in immunocompromised population; reactogenicity; autoimmunity	Mutant C. neoformans strain lacking the enzyme sterylglucosidase 1⁵⁹
Killed fungus	Cannot cause infection; stabler than live-attenuated vaccines; manufacturing processes are straightforward	Elicit less strong immune responses compared to live vaccines; reactogenicity; autoimmunity	Formalin-killed spherule vaccine for coccidioidomycosis⁷⁵
Fungal extracts	Contain numerous multivalent antigens	Reactogenicity; autoimmunity	Glucan particles containing Cryptococcus alkaline extracts⁵³
Purified proteins, peptides, carbohydrates, and lipids	Fewer antigens minimizes the potential side effects	Narrow immune response due to fewer antigens; adjuvants are needed; careful epitope selection, antigen design and purification are required	NDV-3A vaccine (containing the recombinant N-terminus of C. albicans agglutinin-like sequence 3 protein)⁴⁴
Nucleic acid-encoded delivery of antigen(s): DNA or RNA vaccine	Fast manufacturing process; strong immune responses	Risks of eliciting unintended immune reactions; strict temperature requirements for storage	DNA vaccine encoding cell wall antigen Mp1p against Penicillium marneffei infection⁸¹