Innate Immune Receptors involved in the pathogenesis of Vulvovaginal Candidiasis.

MIRÓ MS; ICELY PA; VIGEZZI C; RODRIGUEZ EMILSE; CEJAS H; CAEIRO JP; RIERA F; SOTOMAYOR CE

Congreso; XII Forum on fungal infection in the Clinical Practice- INFOCUS; 2014

INFOCUS

Candida albicans is the main opportunistic pathogen found in patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), a fungal infection affecting more than 75% of all childbearing women at least once in their lifetime. Approximately 8% experience recurrent episodes of VVC (RVVC). This distressing condition is characterized by more than three episodes of VVC per year. Nowadays it is proposed that there is most likely also a genetic component that contributes to the onset of RVVC. In this work we aimed to evaluate the susceptibility to vaginal Candida infection in mice strains with different immune genetic background focusing our studies in the contribution of innate immune receptors involved in the pathogen component recognition. Female TLR2-/- (Knock out, KO-animals), MYD88-/- and C57BL/6 (WT) mice were used in this study. Estrus phase was induced by estradiol injections. Infected animals were intravaginally inoculated with 5.106 C. albicans ATCC-36801 at day(D) 0. Treated-uninfected mice were included as controls. At different D of infection, vaginal lavage was obtained to evaluate fungal burden(CFU) and cytokine levels(ELISA); vaginas were removed for histological studies(HE,PAS). At D2 fungal burden in TLR2-KO was higher than WT and MYD88-KO mice (p