Inhibition of Candida albicans growth by murine peritoneal neutrophils and augmentation of the inhibitory activity by bacterial lipopolysaccharide and cytokines.

Anti-Candida activity of murine neutrophils and its regulation by immunomodulators were studied in vitro. Murine neutrophils which were prepared from peritoneal-exudated cells inhibited the growth of Candida albicans at an effector: target (E/T) ratio of 30/1 or above. This anti-Candida activity of neutrophils was augmented by lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli, murine tumor necrosis factor (TNF), murine interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and murine granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) but not by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) added to the incubation medium. Greater extent of augmentation was obtained when TNF plus GM-CSF or INF-gamma plus GM-CSF were used in combination. These results indicate that anti-Candida activity of murine neutrophils is regulated similarly to that of the human neutrophils reported previously. Therefore murine peritoneal neutrophils can be used as a favorable substitute for human neutrophils in studies on protective machinery against C. albicans infection.