Adherence and Blocking ofCandida Albicansto Cultured Vaginal Epithelial Cells: Treatments to Decrease Adherence

[摘要] Background. Pathogenesis of mucosal microorganismsdepends on adherence to the tissues they colonize and infect. ForCandida albicans, cell surface hydrophobicity may play asignificant role in tissue binding ability.Methods. Acontinuous cell line of vaginal epithelial cells (VEC) was grown in keratinocyte serum-free medium (KSFM) withsupplements and harvested by trypsinization. VEC were combinedwith yeast cells to evaluate adherence and inhibition ofadherence. In this experimental setup, yeast stained withfluorescein isothiocyanate were allowed to attach to VEC and theresulting fluorescent VEC were detected by flow cytometry.Results. VEC were cultured and examined daily afterplating and showed morphology similar to basal epithelial cells.Culture media supplemented with estradiol showed increased VECproliferation initially (first24h) but cell morphology was notaltered. FluorescinatedCandidacells bound effectivelyto the cultured VEC. Using fresh cells exposed to variouspreparations of K-Y, we showed that all formulations of theproduct reducedCandidabinding to VEC by25%to50%. While VEC were generally harvested for use inexperiments when they were near confluent growth, we allowed somecultures to grow beyond that point and discovered that cellsallowed to become overgrown or stressed appeared to bind yeastcells more effectively.Conclusion. Flow cytometry is auseful method for evaluating binding of stained yeast cells tocultured VEC and has demonstrated that commercially availableproducts have the ability to interfere with the process of yeastadherence to epithelial cells.

[学科分类] 妇产科学