Article on Antibody Levels and Response to management of Candida Albicans, 1988

 

A research project looking at antibody responses to exposure to antigenic (antibody generating) material led to a human study of the response to Candida albicans Yeast.  The study was conducted in 1988 and resulted in a paper “Human Serum Immunoglobulin G, A, M levels in Low Grade Chronic Candidiasis”. The paper was not acceptedby a number of established journals of the time and we published the article in a new journal, Journal of Advancement in Medicine, which was not on Pubmed.  Here is a copy of the article. The study shows a positive correlation with increased level of antibody to yeast and response to therapy with oral Nystatin, an antifungal that is not absorbed out of the GI tract.

The article is informative about the various responses of IgG, IgA and IgM to a common antigen. A number of conditions are now identified by using antibody responses to a immune challenge. For example, a response to an immunization with Strep pneumonia is is a commonly used test of immune function.

Guilford 1988 Candida Antibodies

 

Slide Presentation for AAEM Fall 2014Conference

On October 23-26 I visited Albuquerque with a great view of the city and the hot air balloons dotting the horizon early in the morning.  I presented information about mold toxins and how they decrease the function of the enzymes that make glutathione resulting in a decrease in glutathione. These toxins are fat soluble, so they find their way into cells to cause problems. The basis of the information  I presented comes from an article published in 2014 titled “Deficient Glutathione in the Pathophysiology of Mycotoxin-Related Illness” and is available online, just click the link. The history of finding out how the loss of these enzymes was found is reviewed in the paper and is interesting as presence of the mold toxins should increase glutathione, but a deficit was found.

This is a very important topic because the loss of expression of the glutamate-cysteine ligase (GCL) has been found in other conditions including chronic astham and HIV disease. The loss of the enzymes controlling GCL (called the modifier unit or GCLM) is discussed in the paper “Glutathione supplementation improves macrophage functions in HIV“. The abstract for this article is on line. Contact me for information about the whole article. The article discusses the pathways depicted in the presentation slides. You can find out more about the role of glutathione in the innate immune cells ( antigen presenting cells and neutrophils) in the following articles, which are available online: “Characterization of Dendritic Cell and Regulatory T Cell Functions against Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection” and “An Elucidation of Neutrophil Functions against Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection“.

The slide presentation: Glutathione depletion by mold toxins and other causes  AAEM Fall 2014 Mycotoxin 

 

Yeast and Gastrointestinal Inflammation

I have been treating problems related to allergies and mold sensitivity for over 30 years.

About 25 years ago, I helped write an article on antibody responses to Candida albicans yeast in individuals with inflammation from yeast in the gastrointestinal tract. In that article we showed that individuals with the highest antibody response (suggesting the most inflammation) had the most dramatic responses to treatment with Nystatin, an antifungal that is not absorbed out of the gastrointestinal tract. This concept was not widely accepted at that time and we could not get the study accepted in the scientific journals of that time. We published the article in the Journal of Advancement in Medicine, which was sponsored by the American College of Advancement in Medicine. The article was reviewed but was not listed in Pubmed. I have a copy of the article available if anyone wants to read it. You can drop me a note at [email protected] and request “Candida article” and I will forward it to you.

It is interesting to note that more recent studies shows that a high level of Candida colonization occurs with diseases of the gastrointestinal (GI)l tract such as gastritis and colitis. It is thought that the GI tract is an important source of Candida as this organism does not have a significant environmental reservoir. Candida is almost always found associated with mammals such as humans in the GI tract (1). The Kumamoto article shows that yeast colonization in the GI tract is both caused by chronic mucosal inflammation and is a source of inflammation in the GI tract. The article concludes that high-level Candida colonization is frequently observed in ulcer and Irritable bowel diseases. The study also showed that in a mouse model of bowel inflammation that it was difficult to colonized the GI tract with Candida until a course of antibiotic was given(1). A study looking at the effects of Candida albicans in both humans and animal studies suggests that probiotic and even antifungal therapy should be considered in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (2).

In regard to Candida albicans colonization and inflammation in the GI tract, my approach is to use probiotics and nutrients that interfere with yeast metabolism like caprylic acid and garlic. caprylic acid has been shown to inhibit yeast growth (3). We can also use immunotherapy (allergy testing) and oral drops as described in the August 10, 2012 section of this blog.

Finally, if antifungal therapy is going to be considered, it seems logical to start with Nystatin an antifungal that is not absorbed out of GI tract. This is the approach that I used in the article about Candida albicans in 1988.

1. Kumamoto CA. Inflammation and gastrointestinal Candida colonization. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2011;14(4):386-91. PMCID: 3163673. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3163673/pdf/nihms316324.pdf
2. Zwolinska-Wcislo M, Brzozowski T, Budak A, Kwiecien S, Sliwowski Z, Drozdowicz D, et al. Effect of Candida colonization on human ulcerative colitis and the healing of inflammatory changes of the colon in the experimental model of colitis ulcerosa. J Physiol Pharmacol. 2009;60(1):107-18. http://www.jpp.krakow.pl/journal/archive/03_09/pdf/107_03_09_article.pdf
3. Takahashi M, Inoue S, Hayama K, Ninomiya K, Abe S. [Inhibition of Candida mycelia growth by a medium chain fatty acids, capric acid in vitoro and its therapeutic efficacy in murine oral candidiasis]. Med Mycol J. 2012;53(4):255-61. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23257726

An Exciting Medical Adventure

The last few years have been very exciting for me.  Until recently, I thought that the years that I was director of a clinical laboratory (1982 to 1992) specializing in allergy and viral immunology and at the same time, maintaining an active ENT surgery practice was the most fun I could have in medicine. Taking a patient’s blood sample directly from the clinic to the lab for evaluation of antibody responses to pollens, molds, bacteria and viruses gave significant insight to the mechanisms underlying problems such as allergy, chronic sinusitis and asthma. This experience showed me that it was possible to explore the basic science of a health problem and “translate” the information directly into the care of the patient. I learned that an immunologic approach to managing the problem could have direct benefits for improving health problems. For me, an immunologic approach involved calming excessive allergy-like problems by what is called allergy immunotherapy. It is fun for me to see that the evolution in moving from allergy shots to using oral drops that I started using in the 80’s has progressed to become an acceptable form of therapy for allergy.

Early on in the management of allergy and inflammation, it became clear that additional support for antioxidant function and detoxification helped in the management of these problems. In 1996, I ran across research that showed that a biochemical in the body called glutathione was critical for both antioxidant function and detoxification. One article showed that  deficiency of glutathione in the immune cells responsible for the “decision” to respond with a calm, pick up and remove response to offending materials or invaders would trigger the regulatory cells to respond with an antibody stimulating response and chronic inflammation. Around the same time, I found another article that showed a major mechanism of the toxicity of “toxic” metals is related to the depletion of glutathione.  Reading about glutathione and its role as antioxidant, detoxifier and immune modulator became a hobby.

After years of reading about glutathione and using all the available methods for repleting deficient glutathione (precursor amino acids supplements and intravenous – IV) in my clinical practice, I was fortunate in 2004,  to develop a great method of providing glutathione to the body using oral liposomal glutathione. The years of experience using the other methods for repleting glutathione allowed me to quickly understand the benefits of using the liposomal glutathione supplement with my patients. The next problem was to convince skeptical colleagues  and scientists that liposomal glutathione has a clear role to play in supporting glutathione in both acute and chronic conditions. Please note, I will only be referencing the use of liposomal glutathione as a supplement to support glutathione. There are no claims for the diagnosis or treatment of any disease conditions. So, the years of research using liposomal glutathione began formally in 2007 with the publication of an article describing the antioxidant and anti-atherogenic properties of liposomal glutathione. You can find the article in the research section of this website. It is an amazing serendipity that this study was done and I am grateful to everyone involved in its publication. I am only now beginning to understand the importance and implications of this article. Happily, some of the subsequent publications and data that we have now support and will elaborate on the findings that were reported by Mira Rosenblat and others in the laboratory of   Michael Aviram.

As you can see on both the research and publication pages that the last few years have been busy with exploring the role that supporting glutathione may play in maintaining normal cell function. We have data that is being prepared for publications from several universities and it is a real privilege to be able to communicate with “real” researchers in several areas. So check back here from time to time and see what we have accomplished.

My Interest in the role that molds play in chronic illness led to a collaboration with Dennis Hooper, MD, PhD, who has developed tests identifying the presence of toxins from molds (mycotoxins) and mold infections  in individuals with mold exposure. There is some very interesting and important data that is being collected by an infectious disease specialist that is yielding novel insight into chronic health problems such as fatigue and chronic pain syndromes. This information may be published in the near future.

So there is renewed excitement in several areas of research for me. You will see that these areas cover quite a range. Some of the latest clinical research sheds light on the role that mycotoxins play in compromising health problems and yes, how maintenance of glutathione can help in the management of these problems. So now we are seeing the biochemistry behind the immune responses. We have some very exciting information on the role of glutathione in infection in progress and were just notified that a book chapter I co-authored in this area has been accepted for publication.

Thanks for stopping by. I am going to try to keep this information up to date and to fill in some the “back story” on what is a really fun journey. Let me know if you would like to be added to a newsletter list about glutathione and we plan to use this list keep everyone informed about publication of articles and the newsletter is short!