Scientists Tailor Immune Responses

Swiss scientists have determined yeast infection can stimulate the development of a unique type of human immune cell.

Federica Sallusto, Giorgio Napolitani and colleagues at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Bellinzona, Switzerland, have complemented their earlier work on mouse T lymphocytes to study immune responses of human T lymphocytes to the yeast Candida albicans — a pathogen that can cause life-threatening infections in immuno-compromised individuals.

The team discovered Candida albicans stimulates the development of T lymphocytes specialized in producing interleukin 17, an immuno-modulatory protein associated with both harmful autoimmunity and helpful immune responses to certain bacteria. The research provides the first characterization of human interleukin 17-producing T lymphocytes.

Sallusto said the findings broaden our understanding of the ways that T lymphocytes in humans can respond to pathogens, thereby providing a key piece of the puzzle about T lymphocytes specialized in producing interleukin 17, which likely play important roles in many immune responses.

The study appears in the current issue of the journal Nature Immunology.