Mechanisms of adherence of Candida albicans to cultured human epidermal keratinocytes.

We established an in vitro adherence model with primarily cultured human keratinocytes as target cells which allows for the investigation of the molecular mechanisms that are responsible for Candida albicans host cell attachment in the initiation of cutaneous candidosis. The extent of C. albicans binding to cultured human keratinocytes was dependent on the yeast inoculum size and the incubation temperature.