title: Altered immune responses in patients with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis.
abstract: 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)-γ 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-γ (115.1±43.3 pg/mL) in response to Candida antigens when compared to controls (Il-2: 177±103.6 pg/mL; IFN-γ: 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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Mycology research center, faculty of veterinary medicine, university of Tehran, Azadi street, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: khosravi@ut.ac.ir.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Khosravi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of veterinary medicine, Amol university of special modern technologies, Amol, Iran.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shokri
authors.affiliation: Mycology research center, faculty of veterinary medicine, university of Tehran, Azadi street, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Darvishi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000946:Antigens, Fungal / Q000276:immunology; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000276:immunology; D002178:Candidiasis, Chronic Mucocutaneous / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000097:blood; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D000946:Antigens, Fungal; D007376:Interleukin-2; D016753:Interleukin-10; D007371:Interferon-gamma
keywords: Candidose chronique cutanéo-muqueuse; Cellular immunity; Chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis; Cytokines; Lymphocyte transformation; L’immunité cellulaire lymphocytaire; Transformation