The impact of caspase-12 on susceptibility to candidemia

Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2012 Mar;31(3):277-80. doi: 10.1007/s10096-011-1307-x. Epub 2011 Jun 25.

Abstract

Candida is one of the leading causes of sepsis, and an effective host immune response to Candida critically depends on the cytokines IL-1β and IL-18, which need caspase-1 cleavage to become bioactive. Caspase-12 has been suggested to inhibit caspase-1 activation and has been implicated as a susceptibility factor for bacterial sepsis. In populations of African descent, CASPASE-12 is either functional or non-functional. Here, we have assessed the frequencies of both CASPASE-12 alleles in an African-American Candida sepsis patients cohort compared to uninfected patients with similar predisposing factors. African-American Candida sepsis patients (n = 93) and non-infected African-American patients (n = 88) were genotyped for the CASPASE-12 genotype. Serum cytokine concentrations of IL-6, IL-8, and IFNγ were measured in the serum of infected patients. Statistical comparisons were performed in order to assess the effect of the CASPASE-12 genotype on susceptibility to candidemia and on serum cytokine concentrations. Our findings demonstrate that CASPASE-12 does not influence the susceptibility to Candida sepsis, nor has any effect on the serum cytokine concentrations in Candida sepsis patients during the course of infection. Although the functional CASPASE-12 allele has been suggested to increase susceptibility to bacterial sepsis, this could not be confirmed in our larger cohort of fungal sepsis patients.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Black or African American / genetics*
  • Candida / pathogenicity
  • Candidemia / genetics*
  • Caspase 12 / genetics*
  • Disease Susceptibility
  • Female
  • Genetic Variation
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Interferon-gamma / blood*
  • Interferon-gamma / genetics
  • Interleukin-6 / blood*
  • Interleukin-6 / genetics
  • Interleukin-8 / blood*
  • Interleukin-8 / genetics
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Sepsis / blood
  • Sepsis / genetics

Substances

  • Interleukin-6
  • Interleukin-8
  • Interferon-gamma
  • CASP12 protein, human
  • Caspase 12