Interleukin-10 as an indicator of chronic course of oral candidiasis in diabetics: an in vitro study

The importance of host defense against candidiasis and the role of cell-mediated immunity in host defense have been the subject of many studies. Increased expression of virulence factors in Candida isolates from diabetes mellitus (DM) patients with oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) has also been reported. To study the difference in T helper type 2 (Th2) and T helper type 1 (Th1) responses and neutrophil respiratory burst response, as a parameter of acute phase and adaptive immune responses, respectively, by using Candida isolates from lesions of oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) in DM patients compared to oral Candida isolates from healthy carriers. Analytical experimental laboratory-based study: (a) yeast identification and speciation was done. (b) Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and neutrophils, obtained from healthy volunteers, were stimulated with oral Candida isolates of DM patients and healthy carriers (controls). Thereafter, cytokine analysis and neutrophil respiratory burst response analysis were done. IL-10 release was uniformly low at all concentrations of Candida albicans antigen isolated from healthy controls as compared to when C. albicans isolated from DM patients was used as antigenic stimulus. Mean INF-_γ concentration was highest when C. albicans, isolated from healthy carriers was used as antigenic stimulus for PBMCs. There was no significant difference in neutrophil respiratory burst response among study and control groups. The observations highlight a significant IL-10 dominance, which may be an indicator of the inclination of host immune system toward a chronic progressive disease condition, indicating the pathogenic potential of select Candida strains.