Prospective study on humoral immune response induced by fungal infection in patients with hematologic malignancies.

To evaluate the immune response in an immunosuppressed population, antibodies against commercially available Candida albicans antigens were prospectively studied during 37 episodes of acute stomatitis caused by C. albicans and 36 episodes complicated by deep-seated mycoses in 62 adult patients with hematologic malignancies. During uncomplicated stomatitis in patients with acute leukemia, the mean peak IgM, IgG and IgA class enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) units differed significantly from the basic level preceding fungal infection. Mean time until peak values was 2.7-3.8 weeks after diagnosis of stomatitis. During systemic mycoses the antibody response was similar. Among patients with other hematologic malignancies, predominantly lymphomas, several were terminally ill and responded infrequently by antibody production. Similar results were given by Ouchterlony immunodiffusion and counterimmunoelectrophoresis. Thus, patients with acute leukemia showed an antibody response to fungal infection; the peak values, however, were somewhat delayed.