Evidence for the presence of immunoglobulin E antibodies specific to the cell wall phosphomannoproteins of Candida albicans in patients with allergies.

To determine the major antigenic component of Candida albicans against immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies in the sera of patients with allergies who were positive for IgE antibodies to C. albicans crude antigen in a CAP system, phosphomannoproteins (CAMP/A or CAMP/B for serotype A or B strain, respectively) and their acid-stable portions (CAMP-S/A or CAMP-S/B) were isolated from beta-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) extracts of C. albicans cells of serotypes A and B, and IgE antibodies against these components were compared with those against protein complex and enolase (CAE) fractions isolated from C. albicans cells. The dot blot test, which was used to detect IgE antibodies to the C. albicans antigens, showed that IgE antibodies to the 2-ME extract and phosphomannoprotein fractions were present in the sera of 98.0% (2-ME extract), 96.8% (CAMP/A), 93.2% (CAMP-S/A), 97.2% (CAMP/B), and 81.5% (CAMP-S/B) of the patients, whereas IgE antibodies to the protein complex and CAE fractions were found in the sera of 73.6 and 48.8% of the patients, respectively. The extent of IgE binding to the 2-ME extract and phosphomannoproteins was well correlated with the fluorescence intensities estimated with the CAP system. Furthermore, the results obtained from the inhibition experiment with the CAP system indicated that the binding of IgE antibodies to Candida antigens is strongly inhibited by the phosphomannoprotein fraction and is an indication that the serum of the patients contained IgE antibodies specific to the cell wall phosphomannoproteins of C. albicans. Finally, an initial chemical analysis indicated that the epitopes for IgE antibodies on the phosphomannoproteins is a carbohydrate portion, since the ability of CAMP/A to inhibit the binding of IgE antibodies to the homologous CAMP/A was destroyed after oxidation by sodium periodate but not after digestion with proteinase K.