Immunity and tolerance to VVC occurs through distinct innate recognition receptors.

<p>(<b>A</b>) In vivo kinetics of fungal growth in the vagina of C57BL/6, MyD88- or TRIF- deficient mice (<i>n</i> = 6), inoculated intravaginally with 5×10⁶<i>C. albicans</i> blastospores. Fungal growth was quantified at different dpi and expressed as Log₁₀ CFU/100 µl VF ± s.e.m. Pooled data from 4 experiments. *<i>P</i><0.05, MyD88- or TRIF-deficient <i>vs.</i> wild-type mice. (<b>B</b>) Periodic acid-Schiff-stained vaginal sections and inflammatory cell recruitment in vaginal fluids (May–Grünwald Giemsa staining in the insets) at 3 days after the primary infection or after re-challenge. Representative images of histology sections and vaginal fluids (out of 4 experiments) were acquired with a 40× and 100× objective respectively. Scale bars, 100 µm. (<b>C</b>) Fungal growth at 3 dpi in mice (<i>n</i> = 6) after the primary infection or re-challenge. Pooled data from 4 experiments. *<i>P</i><0.05 and **<i>P</i><0.01, Re-challenged <i>vs.</i> not re-challenged (infected) mice. (<b>D</b>) Cytokine levels (pg/mg, cytokine/total proteins for each sample, at 3 dpi) in the vaginal fluids. Pooled data from 4 experiments.*<i>P</i><0.05 Knockout <i>vs.</i> C57BL/6 mice. (<b>E</b>) IFN-γ, IL-17A and IL-10 production (pg/mg, cytokine/total proteins) in the vaginal fluids of mice (<i>n</i> = 6) at 3 days after the primary infection (infected) or re-challenge. Pooled data from 4 experiments.*<i>P</i><0.05, Knockout <i>vs.</i> C57BL/6 mice at 3 days after re-challenge and re-challenged <i>vs.</i> infected mice. (<b>F</b>) Fungal growth in C57BL/6 and TLR-deficient mice (<i>n</i> = 6) at different dpi. Pooled data from 3 experiments. *<i>P</i><0.05, TLR-deficient <i>vs.</i> wild-type mice. (<b>G</b>) Fungal growth (at 3 dpi) in mice (<i>n</i> = 6) re-challenged 3 weeks after the primary infection. Pooled data from 3 experiments. *<i>P</i><0.05, WT <i>vs.</i> KO mice.