Non-serum-dependent chemotactic factors produced by Candida albicans stimulate chemotaxis by binding to the formyl peptide receptor on neutrophils and to an unknown receptor on macrophages.

Serum-free culture filtrates of six Candida species and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were found to contain chemoattractants for human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) and a mouse macrophage-like cell line, J774. The chemotactic factors differed for the PMN and J774 cells, however, in terms of heat stability, kinetics of liberation by the yeast cells, and divalent cation requirements for production. The chemoattractant in Candida albicans culture filtrates appeared to act through the formyl peptide receptor (FPR) of PMNs, since it was found to induce chemotaxis of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells that were expressing the human FPR but did not induce chemotaxis of wild-type CHO cells. The C. albicans culture filtrates also induced migration of PMNs across confluent monolayers of a human gastrointestinal epithelial cell line, T84; migration occurred in the basolateral-to-apical direction but not the reverse direction, unless the epithelial tight junctions were disrupted. J774 cells did not migrate toward the formylated peptide (fMet-Leu-Phe; fMLF), and chemotaxis toward the C. albicans culture filtrate was not inhibited by an FPR antagonist (t-butoxycarbonyl-Met-Leu-Phe), suggesting that a different receptor mediated J774 cell chemotaxis. In conclusion, we have identified a receptor by which a non-serum-dependent chemotactic factor (NSCF) produced by C. albicans induced chemotaxis of PMNs. Additionally, we have shown that NSCF was active across epithelial monolayers. These findings suggest that NSCFs produced by C. albicans and other yeast species may influence host-pathogen interactions at the gastrointestinal tract mucosal surface by inducing phagocytic-cell infiltration.