Abstract:

Objective To analyze the gene expression of pathogenic factors in vaginal secretions of patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis by using Oligo chips. Methods RNA was extracted from vaginal secretions of 10 patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis and 3 asymptomatic carriers, and hybridized with oligonucleotide gene chips. Those genes whose expression was changed by two or more folds （ratio≧2 or ≦0.5） were screened followed by a bioinformatic analysis. Results Comparing with the asymptomatic carriers, the patients showed a higher expression of 44 genes and lower expression of 17 genes. Of these differentially expressed genes, MIP-1α, nuclear factor （NF）-κB, tumor necrosis factor （TNF）-α, interferon （IFN）-γ, Toll like receptor （TLR） 4, HWP1, SAP2, SAP5, LIP4, EFG1 and CPH1 were highly expressed in more than 80% of the secretion samples from patients with an average ratio of 4.013, while LIP6 and WH11 were lowly expressed in more than 80% samples with an average ratio of 0.326. Bioinformatic analysis showed that MIP-1α, NF-κB, TNF-α, IFN-γ and TLR4 were associated with native immunity, HWP1 associated with hyphal adhesion and formation, SAP2, SAP5, LIP4 and LIP6 associated with extracellular hydrolysis, and EFG1, CPH1 and WH11 associated with phenotypic switching. Conclusions Both the host adaptive immunity deficiency and increased virulence of Candida species are involved in the pathogenesis of vulvovaginal candidiasis, and TLR4 possibly plays a certain role in the local immunity of patients with this entity.

Key words: Pathogenesis