Abstract: Objective To investgate the ability of cytokine activated human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PMBC) in inhibiting Candida albicans in vitro Methods PBMCs of thirty six volunteers were obtained by Ficoll Hypaque density centrifugation and cultured for 7 days in cell wells During the culture period different cytokines including,recombinant human tumor necrosis factor (TNF),interleukin-1(IL 1),gamma interferon(IFN-γ) and interleukin-2(IL-2) were added respectively Then,the treated PBMCs were incubated with C-albicans in vitro for 2h to determine the number of colony forming unit of C-albicans per milliliter(cfu/mL) Results Compared to that of controls,there was a significant decrease of C-albicans cfu/mL in IL-2-activated group (P<0.01) Whereas,no inhibitory effect was observed in IL 1,IFNγor TNFαstimulated groups The inhibitory effect of IL-2 activated PBMC was related to the concentration of IL-2 and the duration of culture PBMC was not able to inhibit C-albicans growth directly(P>0.05) IL-2 itself failed to inhibit the growth of C-albicans Conclusion These data demonstrate that IL-2 is capable of stimulating antifungal activity of PBMC which may play an important role in host defensing against C-albicans infections and provide a new approach for the treatment

Key words: Interleukin-2, Candida albicans, Leukocytes,mononuclear