Immunological investigations in vaginal mycoses*

Abstract

In 42 women with chronically recurrent and 20 women with acute Candida albicans vulvovaginitis, as well as 14 women with Candida glabrata vaginitis, the following investigations were carried out: determination of protein content and secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) in the cervicovaginal secretion by a self-modified ELISA technique; determination of immunocells and cellbound IgA in the cervicovaginal secretion by immunofluorescence and nephelometric analysis of IgA in the serum. The results were compared with those of 77 pre-menopausal non-pregnant women with or without intake of anti-ovulants, 17 healthy pregnant women and four hysterectomised pre-menopausal women. Due to inflammation, women with acute and chronically recurrent Candida albicans vulvovaginitis had a higher protein content in the cervicovaginal secretion than healthy women. However, the content of secretory IgA was not increased but even slightly decreased in chronic cases. The number of macrophages and granulocytes in the vaginal content was not increased compared with healthy patients. In only a few cases was IgA detected on yeast cells and in the cervicovaginal secretion by fluorescence microscopy. In chronically-relapsing vaginal candidosis, the frequency of the serotype B of C. albicans was strikingly high. Women with Candida glabrata vaginitis showed lower values of secretory sIgA in the vaginal secretion compared with healthy patients as well as women with vaginitis caused by C. albicans. However, like healthy women, they had normal protein values in the cervicovaginal secretion and also lower values of IgA in the serum compared with women of C. albicans vulvovaginitis patients. Macrophages and granulocytes were demonstrable in the cervicovaginal secretion just as in healthy persons. Women with C. glabrata vaginitis showed a more conspicuous, although not a significantly more frequent, binding of IgA to budding cells demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy than women with C. albicans.

Candida Infections of the Genitourinary Tract

“…Anti-Candida IgG and IgA have been identified in the sera and cervicovaginal secretions of women with and without RVVC (30,67,166,170). While serum anti-Candida IgA and IgG levels appear to be similar in women regardless of a history of RVVC, some studies have shown higher levels of vaginal anti-Candida IgA and IgG in women with RVVC than in those without RVVC (67), whereas others have not found such differences (30,91,170). Thus, a potential role of local Abs in RVVC is dismissed by most authors.…”

Management of Recurrent Vulvo-Vaginal Candidosis as a Chronic Illness

“…Another approach that has been tried is the development of antibodies to limit the effect of the Thelper (TH)-2 response and increase the TH-1 response, which is beneficial to the course of the disease [108,109] . Vaccination with different substances to increase IL-12 as well as exogenous application of IL-12 have been tried to increase the TH-1 response and hence improve the course of RVC in mice, with various levels of success [110] .…”

β-1,2-Mannosylation of Candida albicans Mannoproteins and Glycolipids Differs with Growth Temperature and Serotype

“…Differentiation between C. albicans serotypes is based on the presence of ␤-1,2-oligomannosides in serotype A mannan. Serotyping methods have been used for epidemiological studies for a long time and have revealed differences in the geographic distributions of different strains (5) and their abilities to infect immunocompetent or immunocompromised patients (6,11,27). However, immunochemical studies have shown that serotype A strains do not express antigen 6 when they are grown at a low pH or a high temperature.…”