Marzieh Holakuyee; Mohammad Hossein Yadegari; Zuhair Mohammad Hassan; Mansour Bayat; Ariyo Shahin Jafari; Mohsen Abolhassani; Abbas Ali Amini; Mehdi Mahdavi
Volume 7, Issue 3 , September 2010, , Pages 142-149
Abstract
Background: Candida albicans is one of the most important opportunistic pathogens that suppress immunologic mechanisms of the host. It is speculated that structural and secretory proteins of C. albicans have immunomodulatory effects in cancer. Objective: To evaluate the effects of C. albicans structural ...
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Background: Candida albicans is one of the most important opportunistic pathogens that suppress immunologic mechanisms of the host. It is speculated that structural and secretory proteins of C. albicans have immunomodulatory effects in cancer. Objective: To evaluate the effects of C. albicans structural and secreted proteins on intratumoral CD4/CD8 ratio as well as the survival rate in BALB/c tumor model. Methods: Structural and secretory proteins from C. albicans were isolated and examined for their effects on tumor growth and survival of adenocarcinoma bearing mice. Results: The results indicated that in mice treated with C. albicans structural protein, the survival rate significantly decreased compared with the control groups. Also, mice treated with secretory proteins showed a decrease in survival rate but it was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Investigating the frequency of tumor infiltrated CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes indicated that the percentages of tumor infiltrated CD4+ T lymphocytes in response to structural and secreted proteins were higher compared to the control groups. Conclusion: Our study suggests that C. albicans structural and secreted proteins modulate intratumor T lymphocyte infiltration.
Maryam Roudbary; Shahla Roudbar Mohammadi; Mahmood Bozorgmehr; Seyed Mohammad Moazzeni
Volume 6, Issue 2 , June 2009, , Pages 67-74
Abstract
Back ground: Candida albicans is a member of the normal human microflora. C. albicans cell wall is composed of several protein and carbohydrate components which have been shown to play a crucial role in C. albicans interaction with the host immune system. Major components of C. albican cell wall are ...
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Back ground: Candida albicans is a member of the normal human microflora. C. albicans cell wall is composed of several protein and carbohydrate components which have been shown to play a crucial role in C. albicans interaction with the host immune system. Major components of C. albican cell wall are carbohydrates such as mannans, β glucans and chitins, and proteins that partially modulate the host immune responses. Dendritic cells (DC), as the most important antigen-presenting cells of the immune system, play a critical role in inducing immune responses against different pathogens. Objective: We investigated the effect of the cell wall protein fraction (CPF) of C. albicans on DC maturation. Methods: The CPF of C. albicans cells was extracted by a lysis buffer containing sodium dodecyl sulphate, 2-mercaptoethanol and phosphate-buffered saline. The extract was dialyzed and its protein pattern was evaluated by electrophoresis. Dendritic cells were purified from Balb/c mice spleens through a three-step method including mononuclear cell separation, as well as 2-h and overnight cultures. The purified CPF was added at different concentrations to DC. The purity and maturation status of DC were determined by flow cytometry using monoclonal antibodies against CD11c, MHC-II, CD40 and CD86. Results: Treatment of DC with 10 μg/ml of CPF increased the expression of maturation markers including MHC-II, CD86 and CD40 on DC compared to the control group. Conclusion: In this study we used C. albicans CPF with the molecular weight of 40-45 kDa for pulsing and maturation of dendritic cells. Since according to our results CPF significantly increased the expression of maturation markers on DC, we suggest that CPF may act as an efficient immunomodulator, or may be used as a potential adjuvant to boost the host immune system against infections.