il-17 producing t cells as predictors of primary immunodeficiencies in patients with candida infections

Background: il-17 producing t cells are a distinct subset of cd4+ t cells, which are recognized to have an essential role in protection against certain fungi and extracellular pathogens. objectives: this study aims to evaluate the number of il-17 producing t cells as a predictor of primary immunodeficiency disorders in patients with candida infections and low numbers of il-17 producing t cells. methods: seven newly diagnosed patients with documented candida infections aged between 4 and 35 years were included in this study. before establishing the diagnosis of chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis, a thorough immunodeficiency workup, including complete blood count, serum ig levels and antibody responses, flow-cytometry evaluation, and ltt, was completed for all the patients, and other immunodeficiency disorders, including combined and phagocytic deficiencies, were ruled out. then, il-17 producing t cells were detected using anticd3 and anti-il-17 antibodies through flow-cytometry evaluation. results: the il-17 producing t cells significantly decreased in the peripheral blood of patients with pid and candida infections. a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. conclusions: to conclude, in cases of recurrent candida infections, initial assessment of il-17 producing t cellsmay act as a predictor of an underlying primary immunodeficiency. in patients with low counts of il-17 producing t cells, selecting a targeted panel of genetic tests may become more helpful in the detection of certain immunodeficiency disorders than performing whole-exome sequence analysis.