Immunodiagnosis in oral candidiasis. A review.

Detection of anti-Candida antibodies in sera and saliva of patients with oral candidiasis has been regarded as a valuable laboratory technique in the diagnosis of the lesion. However, despite considerable research, the value of candidal immunodiagnosis remains controversial. Conflicting conclusions about the sensitivities and specificities of these techniques as applied to human sera and saliva have appeared. These controversies have arisen because of the use of different antigen preparations and immunologic techniques. For the present, the use of purified cytoplasmic protein antigen of Candida albicans and the ELISA technique seems to be the most reliable laboratory method.