Detection of some cytokins in serum of the patients with candidemia

The incidence of candidemia is growing with the increasing complexity ofsurgical procedurs, the existance of patient populations at higher risk of infection,and the changes in patient demographic characteristics, such as organtransplantation.Immun responses to defined antigens of Candida exist different cellularfactors including cytokins. We investigated whether there is an associationbetween cytokine profiles during candidiosis. We performed a case-control studyinvolving 20 neutropenic patients with a Candida bloodstream infection and, 10neutropenic patients without Candida infection, and 10 healthy controls. TNF-?,IL-2, TGF-ß, IFN-?, IL-10, IL-6, IL-17 were accessed by ELISA technique.We observed that the TNF-?, TGF-ß, IL-10 and IL-6 levels were found tobe higher in patients with Candida bloodstream infection than in controls. On theother hand, there was no statistically significant difference between patients andcontrols in terms of IL-2, IFN-?, IL-17 levels.Immunotherapy animed at enhancement of host defence mechanisms mayprove extremely useful. The design of trials of immunotherapy against fungalpathogens requires profound knowledge of the host defense mechanisms involvedin invasive fungal infections.