title: Production of anti-Candida antibodies in mice with gut colonization of Candida albicans.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Production of antibodies that are specific for allergens is an important pathological process in inflammatory allergic diseases. These contain the antibodies against antigens of Candida albicans, one of the normal microbial flora in an intestinal tract. We studied the effects of the prednisolone administration on the production of anti-Candida antibodies in the gastrointestinally C. albicans-colonized mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  BALB/c mice, treated with antibacterial antibiotics to decontaminate indigenous intestinal bacterial flora, were inoculated intragastrically with C. albicans. The mice, in which C. albicans grows intestinally, were administered prednisolone to induce temporary immunosuppression. The Candida growth in their intestinal tract and their antibody response to Candida were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Antibiotic treatment allowed establishment of C. albicans gastrointestinal colonization, but did not cause subsequent systemic dissemination of C. albicans in all the animals. When these animals received an additional treatment with prednisolone, they showed a significantly higher population of C. albicans in their feces than those of animals treated with antibiotics alone, and the organisms were recovered even from their kidney. This systemic dissemination by C. albicans appeared to be temporal, because all the mice survived without any symptoms for more than 2 months. Examination of the serum titers of total immunoglobulin (Ig)E antibodies and specific IgE and IgG antibodies against Candida antigens demonstrated that titers of total IgE increased, partially by day 14 and clearly at day 27, in prednisolone-treated Candida-colonized mice. Without prednisolone treatment, an increment of the serum titer was scarcely observed. By day 27, corresponding to the increase of total IgE, the anti-Candida IgE and IgG titer increased in mice of the prednisolone-treated group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Administration of prednisolone to Candida-colonized mice can induce production of the IgG, IgE antibodies against Candida antigens, perhaps through temporal systemic dissemination of Candida from the intestinal tract.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, 2-11-1 kaga Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan. stansho@med.teikyo-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tansho
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishibashi
authors.forename: Masayasu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitsuya
authors.forename: Kayoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Suegara
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Koshio
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Hideyo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000908:Antibodies, Fungal / Q000097:blood*; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D002470:Cell Survival; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology*; D007668:Kidney / Q000382:microbiology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000908:Antibodies, Fungal