Altered immune responses in patients with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis

摘要

Objective. - The purpose of this study was to investigate the lymphocyte transformation responses and cytokine secretion of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis (CMC). Methods. - Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) mitogen and Candida albicans (C. albicans) antigen proliferation assays were performed by culturing PBMCs in RPMI 1640. The levels of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-10, IL-17 and interferon (IFN)-gamma present in the supernatant of cultures were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results. - The results showed that most patients (92.3%) had a low proliferative response to C. albicans antigens and PHA. PBMCs from CMC patients produced lower levels of T (h)-1 cytokines IL-2 (78.5 ± 59.8 pg/mL) and IFN-y (115.1 ±43.3pg/mL) in response to Candida antigens when compared to controls (II-2: 177 ± 103.6 pg/mL; IFN-y: 330.3 ± 21.6 pg/mL) (P<0.05). Conversely, we observed a partial enhancement of IL-10 in the patients (213.7 ± 86.1 pg/mL). Production of IL-17 indicated no significant differences between patients and controls when stimulated by Candida antigens (21.5 ± 8.6 pg/mL versus 32.4 ± 12.2 pg/mL) and PHA (27.7 ±11.5 pg/mL versus 36.2 ± 9.1 pg/mL), respectively. Conclusion. - These findings suggest that Candida antigens trigger a Th2 instead of Th1 cytokine response in patients with CMC. For better understanding, further studies require on a larger number of patients into the future.