A CROSS-REACTIVITY AT THE IMMUNOGLOBULIN-E LEVEL OF THE CELL-WALL MANNOPROTEINS OF CANDIDA-ALBICANS WITH OTHER PATHOGENIC CANDIDA AND AIRBORNE YEAST SPECIES

Background Candida albicans crossreacts with Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Pityrosporum ovale at the IgE level. However, the extent of crossre activity of C. albicans with other yeast species is not known. Objecti ve The crossreactivity at the immunoglobulin E (IgE) level of Candida albicans with other pathogenic Candida species and to the airborne yea st species Cryptococcus and Rhodotorula was studied by immunoblot anal ysis. Methods Crude antigens, designated as heat extract, were prepare d from 13 different yeast species and a dot blot test was performed to detect IgE antibodies against each of the heat extracts in 349 patien ts with allergies who were positive for IgE antibodies against C. albi cans in a CAP system. Results In the dot blot test, most of the sera r eacted with the heat extracts of not only C. albicans but also those p repared from the other yeast species. The sera of 41 of the 349 patien ts (11.7%) reacted with the heat extracts of all 13 yeast species. The extent of the binding of IgE antibodies to multiple yeast species cor related with both the fluorescence intensities measured in the CAP sys tem and the intensities of dots generated by the heat extract of C. al bicans in the dot blot test. In an inhibition dot blot test, mannoprot eins, but not proteins, of C. albicans strongly inhibited the subseque nt binding of IgE antibodies to all yeast species. Conclusion Our data suggest that the C. albicans mannoproteins are responsible for the cr ossreactivity among these yeast species at the IgE level.