Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) remains one of the most common infections of the female genital tract affecting millions of women every year. The current study was designed to determine the frequency of MBL2 gene polymorphism among Egyptian females with vulvovaginal candidiasis and to assess the role of Candida virulence attributes together with host genetic polymorphism in the pathogenesis of such a condition. The study population included 50 cases with vulvovaginal candidiasisand another 50 controls. Vaginal swabs were cultured and species identification was done. MBL2polymorphism in both cases and controls was determined by double amplification refractory mutation system (D-ARMs) from blood sample. Among the different risk factors that were compared between cases and controls, contraception and antifungal use were more in cases than controls, but only antifungals showed almost statistically significant difference between cases and controls (P value = 0.059).There was a statistically significant difference between C. albicans and non albicansCandida (NAC) esterase and phospholipase (P value <0.001).Thirty C. albicans isolates (81.1%) possessed three or more virulence factors, compared to only four NAC (30.8%) with statistically significant difference (P value = 0.002). As regards MBL2 polymorphism, the frequency of X allele was found to be significantly high in cases as compared to controls (P value {u2264} 0.001). B allele on codon 54 and L allele on promoter region were also more among cases than controls

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