A crossreactivity at the immunoglobulin E level of the cell wall mannoproteins of Candida albicans with other pathogenic Candida and airborne yeast species.

BACKGROUND

Candida albicans crossreacts with Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Pityrosporum ovale at the IgE level. However, the extent of crossreactivity of C. albicans with other yeast species is not known.

OBJECTIVE

The crossreactivity at the immunoglobulin E (IgE) level of Candida albicans with other pathogenic Candida species and to the airborne yeast species Cryptococcus and Rhodotorula was studied by immunoblot analysis.

METHODS

Crude antigens, designated as heat extract, were prepared from 13 different yeast species and a dot blot test was performed to detect IgE antibodies against each of the heat extracts in 349 patients with allergies who were positive for IgE antibodies against C. albicans in a CAP system.

RESULTS

In the dot blot test, most of the sera reacted with the heat extracts of not only C. albicans but also those prepared from the other yeast species. The sera of 41 of the 349 patients (11.7%) reacted with the heat extracts of all 13 yeast species. The extent of the binding of IgE antibodies to multiple yeast species correlated with both the fluorescence intensities measured in the CAP system and the intensities of dots generated by the heat extract of C. albicans in the dot blot test. In an inhibition dot blot test, mannoproteins, but not proteins, of C. albicans strongly inhibited the subsequent binding of IgE antibodies to all yeast species.

CONCLUSION

Our data suggest that the C. albicans mannoproteins are responsible for the crossreactivity among these yeast species at the IgE level.