Th17 cells differentiated with mycelial membranes of Candida albicans prevent oral candidiasis

Candida albicans is a human commensal that causes opportunistic infections. Th17 cells provide resistance against mucosal infection with C. albicans; however, the T cell antigens remain little known. Our final goal is to find effective T cell antigens of C. albicans that are responsible for immunotherapy against candidiasis. Here, we prepared fractions including cytosol, membrane and cell wall from yeast and mycelial cells. Proteins derived from a membrane fraction of mycelial cells effectively induced differentiation of CD4+ T cells into IL-17A-producing Th17 cells. To confirm the immunological response in vivo of proteins from mycelial membrane, we performed adoptive transfer experiments using ex vivo stimulated CD4+ T cells from IL-17A-GFP reporter mice. Mycelial membrane-differentiated CD4+ Th17 cells adoptively transferred intravenously prevented oral candidiasis by oral infection of C. albicans, compared with control anti-CD3-stimulated CD4+ T cells. This was confirmed by the clinical score and the number of neutrophils on the infected tissues. These data suggest that effective T cell antigens against candidiasis could be present in the membrane protein fraction of mycelial cells. The design of novel vaccination strategies against candidiasis will be our next step.