Abstract
Antibody responses to antigenic components was analyzed by the immunoblot technique. The antigen in the cytoplasmic protein were extracted from Candida albicans type KULM 83-0300. Thirty-five sera samples from 10 autopsy cases (6 patients from Kitasato University Hospital and 4 from Nihon Medical University Nagayama Hospital) with pathologic diagnosis of candidiasis, from 17 clinical cases with clinical or cultural diagnosis of candidiasis, and from 8 healthy control subjects were used to evaluate the diagnostic value of immunologic response. The patients were classified by the degree of infiltration into two groups: severe (11 cases) and mild (16 cases), with normal controls being regarded as the third group. Sera from the severe group reacted in the area of 24-151 kilodalton (kDa) with a total of 17 bands. The mild group reacted in the area of 26-88kDa with a total of 15 bands. The normal control reacted in the area of 22-65kDa with a total of 9 bands. The severe group had higher molecular weight bands than the other two groups, and these were considered to be due to the extent of the invaded area. However, 14 of 16 (87.5%) sera from the mild group and 6 of 8 (75%) sera from the control group reacted with the 47kDa antigen, while only 4 of 11 (36.4%) sera from the severe group reacted. Prognosis of the patients whose serum did not react with it tended to be poor. Though presence of the antibody for the 47kDa antigen is generally considered useful in diagnosing invasive candidiasis, these findings implied that caution should be exercised in such cases.
