Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Vitamin E in Response to Candida albicans

Oral mucositis, inflammation, and ulceration that occur in the oral cavity can manifest in significant pain. A formulation was designed to investigate the potential of vitamin E to ameliorate inflammation resulting from Candida albicans in cell-based systems. Human gingival fibroblasts and THP1 cells were stimulated with heat killed C. albicans and Porphyromonas gingivalis LPS (agonists). Unstimulated cells were included as controls. Cells were also simultaneously treated with a novel denture adhesive formulation that contains vitamin E (antagonist). The experimental conditions included cells exposed to the experimental formulation or the vehicle for 2 h for mRNA extraction and analysis, and cells left for 24 h under those experimental conditions for analysis of protein expression by ELISA. ssAffymetrix expression microarray pathway analyses demonstrated that the tested formulation exhibited a statistically significant (p < 0.05) inhibition of the following key inflammatory pathways: TLR 6, IL-1 signaling (IRAK, A20), NF-kappaB, IL-6 signaling (gp130, JK2 and GRB2), TNF signaling (TNF receptor) and Arachidonic acid metabolism (PLA2). Quantitative PCR array analysis confirmed the downregulation of key inflammatory genes when cells under adhesive treatment were challenged with heat killed C. albicans. PGE2 secretion was inhibited by the tested formulation only on THP1 cells after 24 h stimulation with C. albicans. These results suggest that the active formulation containing vitamin E acetate can modulate inflammatory responses, through anti-inflammatory actions as indicated by in vitro experimental conditions.