No abstract

Oral candidiasis is a common opportunistic infection among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)infected individuals, with growing concerns about the emergence of non-albicans species with resistance to antifungal agents. This cross-sectional study determined the prevalence of oral Candida species in Thai HIV-infected adults and factors affecting their colonization. Candida species were identified from oral rinse samples of 60 HIV-infected participants of the MTCT-Plus initiative and 49 healthy controls by culture-based and molecular assays. The prevalence of oral Candida carriage was similar in HIV-infected patients (56.6 %) and in controls (55.1 %, P50.87). Candida albicans was the most predominant species in both groups (94.1 % of Candida carriers in HIV, 88.9 % in control). Interestingly, Candida dubliniensis was the second most common species in controls (29.6 %) and the third in HIV-infected patients (11.8 %, P50.08). Multivariate analysis showed that, amongst HIV-infected individuals, CD4 count ,200 cells mm-3 was associated with increased prevalence of oral carriage of both C. albicans (P50.03) and nonalbicans species (P50.03). Moreover, patients with tuberculosis infection had a higher prevalence of the non-albicans species than those without (P50.03). Intriguingly, contraceptive use was also associated positively with non-albicans and multi-species carriage (P50.04 for both). However, use of antiretroviral drugs protected the patients from Candida carriage (P50.03), especially from C. albicans (P50.02). In conclusion, while HIV-infected individuals had a similar prevalence of oral Candida carriage to that of the control group, host immune status, tuberculosis infection, and contraceptive use may influence oral colonization of Candida, especially of the non-albicans species.

B7-H1 (CD274), a member of the B7 family of coinhibitory molecules, is often induced in human tumors and its expression is closely correlated with a poor prognosis or higher malignancy grade. Tumor-associated B7-H1 is implicated in mechanisms of immune escape. Under inflammatory conditions, B7-H1 is also inducible in normal epithelial cells, but little is known about its involvement in the conversion of normal cells to tumor cells. We recently found that skin-specific expression of B7-H1 accelerates chemically induced carcinogenesis of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), despite impaired skin inflammatory responses, in B7-H1 transgenic (B7-H1tg) mice. B7-H1tg-derived keratinocytes (KC) and SCCs exhibited a marked reduction of E-cadherin, and B7-H1tg-originated SCCs showed elevated expression of the transcription factors Slug and Twist, suggesting that B7-H1 overexpression in KCs promotes the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and accelerates carcinogenesis. This review discusses the diverse functions of B7-H1 in carcinogenesis and cancer progression, and considers future directions for developing cancer therapy targeting B7-H1. Cancer Res; 71(14); 4737-41. Ó2011 AACR.

Patients with oral lichen planus from the central, northern, and northeastern parts of Thailand presented with distinct characteristics. The malignant transformation of oral lichen planus was low in Thai patients.

Our results suggest that IFN-gamma expression in OLP tissue may involve in the immunopathogenesis and the treatment with 0.1% FAO had an immunomodulating effect on the decrease of IFN-gamma.