Cellular Immunity in Women with Recurrent Genital Candidosis

Abstract

ABSTRACTSome recent studies point to a possibility that disturbances during the cellular immune reaction could be the cause of recurrent vulvovaginal candidosis (RVC).Our goal in this study was to verify the difference of systemic cellular immune reactivity in a group of patients with recurrent genital candidosis by comparing them with a healthy control group.The study of cellular immunity parameters has included 20 women with RVC in the remission phase and 20 healthy women of the control group. The objective of the study is to examine the interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) production in the cultures of specifically, by Candida albicans antigens (heat killed blastospores—HKB), and non-specifically, by Concavalin-A (Con-A) stimulated mononuclear peripheral blood cells (PBMC) of both examined groups. These cytokines have been registered by the quantative immunoenzyme method Quantikine (R&D system, Minneapolis, USA).The comparison of produced IFN-γ in cultures of HKB and Con-A stimulated PBMC in women with RVC and the corresponding results of the control group has showed neither significant exceptions nor statistically significant differences. Same results were observed for IL-2 and IL-4 in cultures of Con-A stimulated PBMC. On the other hand, IL-2 and IL-4 have not been found in HKB stimulated PBMC cultures.There were no differences discovered in quantities of IFN-γ, IL-2 and IL-4 produced by stimulated PBMC concerning women with RVC and healthy women.