Growth inhibition of Candida albicans by vaginal cells from naive mice

Recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC) is a common idiopathic mucosal in fection caused by Candida albicans. Current data suggests that local immuni ty is more important than that in the peripheral circulation for protection against infection. In the present study, anti-Candida innate resistance at the vaginal mucosa was investigated using a murine model. For this, spleni c and vaginal cells were assessed for ir? vitro growth inhibition (GI) of C . albicans and cytotoxicity of natural killer (NK) cell-sensitive tumour ta rgets (YAC-1). As expected, significant GI of C. albicans by splenic cells was mediated predominantly by polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNL) at effect or to target (E:T) ratios of 100 and 50.1. From the vaginal mucosa, naive u nfractionated, but not nylon wool non-adherent (NWN), cells extracted from whole vaginal tissue showed significant GI of C. albicans at E:T ratios as low as 1:1, but only modest killing of YAC-1 targets at all E:T ratios. Sub sequent experiments showed significant GI of C, albicans by vaginal epithel ioid-enriched cells and with several epithelial cell lines, but not in supe rnatants collected from the co-cultures. In contrast, lymphoid cell lines h ad no anti-Candida activity. These results suggest that anti-Candida activi ty is present at the vaginal mucosa, but unlike that from the spleen, the v aginal activity appears to be predominantly mediated by epithelial cells.