Effect of C. albicans infection on experimental autoimmune encephalitis development.

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a serious autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS). Environmental factors such as infectious agents have been associated with severity of this disease or by triggering their process. In this context, the objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of Candida albicans in the development of experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE) that is a murine model used to study this autoimmune disease. C57BL/6 mice will be infected with C. albicans before EAE induction, during the acute phase and the chronic phase of EAE. The effect of fungal infection will be evaluated by clinical parameters (weight and clinical score), histopathology of the CNS (inflammatory process, degree of demyelinization and presence of yeast). Cytokine profiles produced by peripheral lymphoid organs (spleen and lymph nodes) and peripheral blood dendritic cells subsets will be also evaluated.