A therapeutic vaccine for mucosal candidiasis

Persistent and recurrent infection of mucosal surfaces with Candida albican s is common, ranging from a nuisance to a life threatening clinical problem . No effective prophylactic or therapeutic vaccine has been developed. We h ave studied a mouse model of oral candida infection to identify regulatory and effector molecules of T cell activation as parameters of induced immuni ty, and here describe the use of this model to determine an optimal immunis ation strategy. Oral immunisation with the blastospore yeast form (but not subcutaneous immunisation) induced clinical immunity, with a shift in param eters of cytokine response characterised by an early and sustained producti on of both IFN-gamma and IL-4 from antigen-stimulated cervical node T lymph ocytes. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.