Role of GM-CSF in vaginal candidiasis

Objective To explore role of granulocyte-macrophage-colony stimulating factor(GM-CSF) in vaginal candidiasis of mice.Methods The once and the twice mouse infection models of vaginal candidiasis were established.The contents of GM-CSF in serum and vaginal lavage solution of mice in each group on days 2,7,and 14 after infection were detected.The mice in the two groups were separately treated with sporanox through intragastic administration or with rhGM-CSF through intraperitoneal injection from the 2nd day after infection for 3 days.After treatment cfu in vaginal lavage solution was counted.Results The contents of GM-CSF in serum and vaginal lavage solution were the highest on the day 7 in both two groups.The contents of GM-CSF in serum and vaginal lavage solution of mice in the twice infection group on the days 2,7 and 14 were higher than those in the once infection group on the same days and the content in vaginal lavage solution was higher than that in the serum.The mice treated with sporanox all cured,6 of 8 mice treated with rhGM-CSF through intraperitoneal injection cured.The content of GM-CSF in vaginal lavage solution of mice in the control group was very minute,and that in serum was also lower than that in the two infection subgroups.Conclusion GM-CSF plays a protective role in defending against vaginal candidiasis, especially against secondary infection,and its local role is stronger than the systemic role,which reflects the role of innate immunity in host defense mechanism system from side aspects.RhGM-CSF has certain therapeutic effects for vaginal candidiasis and can be considered as a new adjunctive therapy of the disease.