Activation of cytokine responses by Candida africana

Within the community of microorganisms inhabiting the human body, the fungus Candida normally harbors different sites, such as the skin, mouth, gut, and vaginal mucosa, without causing any harm. However, if the immune defense is weakened, such as during antibiotic treatments, diabetes, or immunosuppressive therapy, Candida can become invasive and cause infection. Moreover, around 75% of women worldwide of childbearing age suffer of vaginal infections at least once during their life. This condition results in diminished quality of life as well as increased associated healthcare costs.

Specific Candida strains have been suggested to play a role in vaginal candidiasis. Within the European Horizon 2020 project FunHoMic, the authors performed a research project to identify the immune response profile to Candida africana, a Candida species that has been suggested to specifically cause vaginal infections. The results of this study by Diletta Rosati and her colleagues from the teams of Prof. Mihai Netea from the Internal Medicine Department and Prof. Jacques Meis from CWZ, were published in Medical Mycology on October 12^th.

Using purified human immune cells isolated from healthy volunteers, they studied the capacity of various clinical strains of Candida africana from different geographical locations to stimulate host defense mechanisms. They assessed both differences between Candida africana isolates (intra-species) and among different Candida species (inter-species) that are commonly found in the clinic. It was found that C. Africana  induces broadly a similar cytokine response in comparison to the other Candida species and we concluded that the type of strain is most likely not the main factor causing vulvovaginal candidiasis. The most likely cause of the disease is therefore the host interindividual differences. Their results expand the knowledge and contribute to understand the pathogenesis of candida vaginitis.

Publication

Rosati D., Bruno M., Van de Veerdonk F., Ten Oever J., Meis JF, Netea MG. Activation of cytokine responses by Candida africana. Medical Mycolog. 2022 Oct 12;60(10):myac080. doi: 10.1093/mmy/myac080. PMID: 3619532