Anti-Candida Factors in Serum and Their Inhibitors. I. Clinical and Laboratory Observations

Abstract

The sera of 98% of adults (21–50 years old), 95% of children, and 82% of adults over 50 years of age clumped Candida albicans in vitro, thereby ostensibly reducing populations; similar clumping was found in 80% of cord sera tested. Clumping activity is reduced in the sera of patients with azotemia, hepatic disease, or diabetic acidosis, and in young patients suffering from carcinoma, leukemia, or nonacidotic diabetes. Clumping activity is characteristically absent in those suffering from mucocutaneous or systemic candidiasis. Another substance was found that vitiated the clumping activity of normal serum. This substance was found in the majority of sera with reduced clumping activity. Other studies suggest that this substance is antibody elicited by Candida. In some cases, the lack of clumping activity or the presence of interference, or both, appeared to be better indicators of the presence of infection due to Candida than either the agglutinin or precipitin test.