Mao X, Qiu X, Jiao C, et al. - Since there is a lack of complete understanding of the influence of Candida albicans on the immune response in intestinal epithelial cells and on the intestinal mucosal barrier, therefore, researchers explored Caco-2 cells, a monolayer model of intestinal epithelial cells, with or without treatment with C. albicans SC5314 (CA) or heat-inactivated CA (CA-inact). Findings revealed the participation of NOD-like receptor signaling pathway in the CA- and CA-inact-infected Caco-2 cells, as demonstrated by microarray analysis of total mRNA expression. In Caco-2 cells infected with CA and CA-inact vs in the untreated control, they detected significantly reduced expression of NOD-like receptor pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3), NLRP6, ASC, β-defensin-2 [BD-2], BD-3, occludin, and zona occludens-1. In both the CA- and CA-inact-infected groups vs the control, reduced expression of IL-1β was found. Findings are suggestive of the ability of CA in inhibiting the NLRP3 and NLRP6 pathways and causing depression of human intestinal mucosal barrier activity through the reduced generation of anti-microbial peptides and tight junction proteins, independent of CA activity.