Candida Albicans Extract Research Articles

Migration inhibition experiments with mixtures of human peripheral blood lymphocytes and guinea pig peritoneal exudate cells.

AbstractMigration inhibition using mixtures of human peripheral blood lymphocytes and non‐sensitized guinea pig peritoneal exudate cells was demonstrable with purified protein derivative of tuberculin (PPD) and Candida albicans extract (CAE) when lymphocytes were obtained from individuals with a delayed type skin reaction to these antigens. No migration inhibition occurred when lymphocytes were used from skin test negative individuals.Furthermore it was found that lymphocytes from some skin test negative persons, which did not induce migration inhibition, showed, however, an increased DNA synthesis when cultured in vitro with PPD. This indicates that a dissociation between the results of migration inhibition, skin test and lymphocyte transformation can occur not only in patients with immune disorders, as has been described by other investigators, but also in healthy individuals.

Biological and chemical characterization of toxic substances from Candida albicans.

Whole cells, morphological components, and various extracts of Candida albicans were tested for toxicity by methods involving biological activities ordinarily used to characterize bacterial endotoxin. Fungal preparations exerted several of these activities, but only at much higher dose levels than those required for bacterial products. Both fungal cell walls and intact cells were pyrogenic in rabbits and lethal to actinomycin D-treated mice, but only the former were also lethal to chicken embryos; neither coagulated a hemolysate of horseshoe crabs. Wallfree fungal protoplasm was minimally pyrogenic but negative in the other assays. Bacterial endotoxin was strongly active in all four systems. The toxicity of fungous cell walls was undiminished after exposure to strong alkali, a treatment which destroyed bacterial endotoxin. Extracts obtained with hot phenol-water or potassium hydroxide killed mice but were nonpyrogenic. A defatted and enzyme-digested ethylenediamine extract was both lethal and pyrogenic. Particulate fungal materials but not bacterial endotoxin induced a granulomatous response in prepared mice. These data indicate that contaminating bacterial endotoxin was not responsible for the biological effects of fungal products and suggest that C. albicans may contain at least two different toxic components. Chemical analyses were performed on soluble fractions, but a role in toxicity could not be assigned to any identified component.

Relationship of dermal and pulmonary sensitivity to extracts of Candida albicans.

Extracts of Candida albicans were fractionated and purified to study the antigenic components known to cause late dermal and bronchial reactions in patients with asthma. Skin tests with purified polysaccharide fraction and protein fraction from extracts of Candida albicans in a sensitive man revealed that the polysaccharide fraction elicited an immediate reaction and the protein fraction provoked an immediate or delayed reaction, or both. Twenty-three inhalation tests with these fractions were performed in 20 asthmatic patients. Among 13 patients with cutaneous reactions, asthma of immediate or delayed nature was induced in 12. Six of seven subjects with no cutaneous reaction had no respiratory response. Considering previous observations on the antigenicity of extracts of Candida albicans in guinea pigs, it was concluded that antigenic substances of immediate hypersensitivity were included in the polysaccharide fraction whereas the protein fraction contained those of the delayed type as well.

Antigenicity of fractions from extracts of Candida albicans: The immediate and delayed-type respiratory responses in guinea pigs

Fifteen guinea pigs were sensitized with Candida albicans and exposed to the aerosol of the polysaccharide fraction (PS) or protein fraction (Prot) from the extracts of the organisms. A definite decrease in respiratory conductance was seen immediately after the inhalation of PS. When the pigs were exposed to Prot or crude extracts, two types of reactions in the respiratory tract were observed in each. The first was an immediate decrease in conductance following inhalation, and the second was a delayed tachypnea occurring at 24 hours after exposure. Our previous study on guinea pigs immunized with egg albumin or killed tubercle bacilli showed that exposure to the former provoked an immediate decrease in conductance and exposure to the latter caused a delayed tachypnea. The transferability of the former reaction with serum and the latter via cells was demonstrated. Taking this into consideration, it may be suggested from the present investigation that PS has antigenic activity provoking an allergic reaction of the immediate type and Prot has the ability to elicit dual reactions of the immediate and delayed type in the respiratory tract of guinea pigs immunized with the organism. Histologic studies support this view.

Antigenicity of Fractions from Extracts of Candida albicans : II. The Bronchial Responses in Guinea Pigs

Antigenicity of Fractions from Extracts of Candida albicans : II. The Bronchial Responses in Guinea Pigs

Post mortem studies of systemic candidiasis

Precipitating antibodies against a cytoplasmic extract of Candida albicans (“S” antigen) were demonstrated during life in 14 of 17 patients who revealed systemic candidal infection Post mortem. No false positive precipitin reactions were observed. Three false negative reactions are attributed to terminal or disease-related anergy.The precipitin reaction proved diagnostically more reliable than mycologic evidence of infection. However, no diagnostic test at present available reflects adequately the extent and severity of the infection in a given case. Both were considerable in the present series, in whom on the average three internal organs were involved per patient.The macrophages of the reticuloendothelial system are implicated in the destruction of Candida and release of the cytoplasmic antigens that induce the precipitin response.The yeast phase of Candida appears to be the invasive form, and neither tubes nor mycelia seem to be essential in evoking the inflammatory or necrotic tissue changes that char...

POLYOL DEHYDROGENASES IN CANDIDA ALBICANS

An NAD-polyol dehydrogenase present in cell-free extracts of Candida albicans, that catalyzes the reversible oxidation of xylitol to D-xylulose, was purified about 20-fold. The purified enzyme preparations catalyzed the oxidation of xylitol to D-xylulose, D-sorbitol to D-fructose and ribitol to D-ribulose. The relatively high activity with xylitol and D-xylulose suggest that they may benatural substrates for the enzyme.

Bronchial hypersensitivity to extract of Candida albicans

Eighty-one inpatients, 14 years of age and older, were challenged qualitatively with aerosols of physiological saline, 30 per cent glycerine, extracts of common inhalant allergens, and extracts of Candida albicans (Hollister-Stier) at concentrations up to 10,000 PNU per milliliter delivered through a hand nebulizer. The same patients were tested intradermally and conjunctivally with C. albicans extract. Sputum specimens were obtained from each patient and cultured for the Candida group of organisms. Passive transfer studies for the presence of reagin to C. albicans were made between the effects of inhalation of C. albicans extract and Escherichia coli endotoxin in six patients. Fifteen patients were given control injections and hyposensitization treatment with C. albicans extract and observations were made of bronchial sensitivity by means of either qualitative or quantitative inhalation challenge. The results indicate that C. albicans hypersensitivity is a factor of importance in some patients with severe asthma. The immediate skin response to 1:1,000 extract and reaction of the bronchial tree to other mold extracts were correlated with a positive bronchial reaction to C. albicans extract in the patients studied; the conjunctival test, the delayed skin response to 1:1,000 extract, the bronchial reaction to extract of house dust or pollens, positive sputum cultures, and a history of long-term corticosteroid or antibiotic administration were not so correlated. The mechanism of response differs from that to E. coli endotoxin.

Lethality of cell-free extract of Candida albicans for chlortetracycline-treated mice.

SummarySupersonic vibration of viable C. albicans cells released a substance lethal to mice treated with chlortetracycline. In the absence of antibiotic the cell-free preparation was inactive. The combination of supersonic extract with chlortetracycline was highly lethal to mice, that with oxytetracycline was slightly active, while that with chloramphenicol or streptomycin was inactive. Evidence was presented for the combined toxicity of viable C. albicans cells and chlortetracycline to diverse animal species.