Candidiasis Infection Model in Mice

IL-17RA^KO mice were a gift from Amgen, and IL-23p19^KO mice were provided by Genentech. IL-22 KO mice were produced in a collaboration between Genentech and Lexicon Pharmaceuticals to analyze the function of 500 secreted and transmembrane proteins (74 (link)). All other mice were purchased from The Jackson Laboratory. All mice were on the C57BL/6 background, and all were age and sex matched. Mice were caged individually after infection. If indicated, mice were treated with 225 mg/kg cortisone acetate (Sigma-Aldrich) and infected under anesthesia by placing a 0.0025-g cotton ball saturated with 2 × 10⁷ CFU C. albicans (CAF2-1) sublingually for 75 min, as previously described (25 ). No antibiotics were administered. Saliva was collected into chilled tubes after carbachol injection (100 μl at 10 mg/ml) and used immediately in candidacidal assays. All protocols were approved by SUNY Buffalo Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.