No description available.

No description available.

The oral commensal Candida albicans is found in a majority of the human population. Defects in innate and cell-mediated immunity alter the status of the yeast from a commensal to an opportunistic pathogen. One of the most common clinical manifestations of this infection is oro-pharyngeal candidiasis. Previous studies have reported on the establishment of a chronic oro-pharyngeal infection in a mouse model. In this study, investigations were carried out on local and systemic immune responses against oral C. albicans infection using an IL-12p40 cytokine deficient knockout mouse model. Draining lymph nodes (LN) and oral tissues (OT) consisting of tongue, buccal mucosa and palate were isolated from naïve (Day 0) and infected (Day 6) IL-12p40 knockout and C57BL/6J wildtype mice and analysed using Affymetrix Mouse Genechip MOE430A. Quality control of the samples was carried out using hierarchical clustering. Clustering analysis showed how comparable the duplicates for each group were clustered together. Analysis of the data including data mining tool (DMT) and MAS5.0 was performed to generate reliable and manageable gene lists for the lymph nodes and oral tissues, and of highly expressed genes that could be verified using traditional molecular methods. Identification of differentially expressed genes using statistical (t-test and ANOVA with Benjamini-Hochberg correction, p<0.05) and non-statistical (Fold Change > 1.5) tools highlighted substantially greater numbers of differentially expressed genes in the knockout mice with respect to strain and/or disease. Further analysis of this data, limited to the immune response pathways, showed that CD4 antigen was downregulated in the infected knockout mice compared to the infected wildtype mice. The CD8α antigen was also down-regulated in the infected knockout mice compared to the infected wildtype mice. Within the oral tissues, genes expressing proteins such as β-defensin 4 and triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 (Trem1) were down-regulated in the infected knockout mice compared to the infected wildtype mice. The glycoprotein osteopontin was up-regulated in the oral tissues in the naïve knockout mice and to a lesser extent in the infected knockout mice. Confirmation of the microarray data was undertaken using real time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction qRT-PCR for the selected immune response genes in the lymph nodes and oral tissues. Real time qRT-PCR data confirmed the differential expression of nominated genes obtained from the microarray analysis.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The oral commensal Candida albicans is found in a majority of the human population. Defects in innate and cell-mediated immunity alter the status of the yeast from a commensal to an opportunistic pathogen. One of the most common clinical manifestations of this infection is oro-pharyngeal candidiasis. Previous studies have reported on the establishment of a chronic oro-pharyngeal infection in a mouse model. In this study, investigations were carried out on local and systemic immune responses against oral C. albicans infection using an IL-12p40 cytokine deficient knockout mouse model. Draining lymph nodes (LN) and oral tissues (OT) consisting of tongue, buccal mucosa and palate were isolated from naïve (Day 0) and infected (Day 6) IL-12p40 knockout and C57BL/6J wildtype mice and analysed using Affymetrix Mouse Genechip MOE430A. Quality control of the samples was carried out using hierarchical clustering. Clustering analysis showed how comparable the duplicates for each group were clustered together. Analysis of the data including data mining tool (DMT) and MAS5.0 was performed to generate reliable and manageable gene lists for the lymph nodes and oral tissues, and of highly expressed genes that could be verified using traditional molecular methods. Identification of differentially expressed genes using statistical (t-test and ANOVA with Benjamini-Hochberg correction, p<0.05) and non-statistical (Fold Change > 1.5) tools highlighted substantially greater numbers of differentially expressed genes in the knockout mice with respect to strain and/or disease. Further analysis of this data, limited to the immune response pathways, showed that CD4 antigen was downregulated in the infected knockout mice compared to the infected wildtype mice. The CD8α antigen was also down-regulated in the infected knockout mice compared to the infected wildtype mice. Within the oral tissues, genes expressing proteins such as β-defensin 4 and triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 (Trem1) were down-regulated in the infected knockout mice compared to the infected wildtype mice. The glycoprotein osteopontin was up-regulated in the oral tissues in the naïve knockout mice and to a lesser extent in the infected knockout mice. Confirmation of the microarray data was undertaken using real time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction qRT-PCR for the selected immune response genes in the lymph nodes and oral tissues. Real time qRT-PCR data confirmed the differential expression of nominated genes obtained from the microarray analysis.