Atopy as a risk factor for dermatophytoses

Antagonism between cell-mediated immunity and humoral immunity that develops in atopic patients may be correlated with susceptibility of those patients to dermatophytoses. One hundred and one patients were included in this study from September 2002 to September 2003 to discover the association between atopy and dermatophytoses. The atopic status of patients did not act as a predisposing factor for different types of dermatophytoses, but it increased the susceptibility of such infections to become chronic rather than acute

Dermatophytoses and the high level of CR3 [CD11b/CD18]

In patients infected with dermatophytoses there is a continuous fungal antigen shedding into the circulation, especially during chronic infection, including the cell wall component beta-glucan as one of the fungal antigen. CR3 [CD1lb/CD18] serves as a leukocyte receptor for particulate and soluble beta-glucan. The keratinocyte induction by the fungus; to produce certain cytokines and their role in the upregulation of CD11 b expression. All can explain our results with the high level of CD11b expression in of Cd D11b dermatophytic expression in patients in comparison to controls group, and in chronically infected patients more than in acutely infected patients

Immunosuppressive serum factors in patients with dermatophytoses

Serum factors may be involved in suppression of cell-mediated immunity to fungal antigens in chronic dermatophytoses. In certain cases like dermatophytoses, the infectious process may generate a serum factor that is capable of inducing immunosuppression, thereby the patient susceptible to chronic infection. Lymphocytes isolated from heparinized whole blood of fifteen patients and fifteen control subjects were used in order to prepare a pure population, ready for use in microculture tetrazolium [MTT] assay to measure the proliferative activity of PBL in patients and control subjects. Lymphocytes were isolated by density gradient sedimentation. Non-significant differences [P>0.05] revealed when the patients sera incubated with its own lymphocytes and with controls lymph ocytes. The study found that absence of the serum inhibitory factors with specific and/or non-specific action in patients sera may be associated with the local rather than the systemic action of dermatophyte-derived lymphocyte inhibitory factors. The study also found that patients sera were with stimulatory rather than inhibitory action