(MPhil Thesis) The oral commensal Candida albicans is found in a majority of the human population. Defects in innate and cell-mediated immunity alter the status of the yeast from a commensal to an opportunistic pathogen. One of the most common clinical manifestations of this infection is oro-pharyngeal candidiasis (OPC). In this study, investigations were carried out on local and systemic immune responses against oral C. albicans infection using an IL-12p40 cytokine deficient knockout mouse model. Draining lymph nodes (LN) and oral tissues (OT) consisting of tongue, buccal mucosa and palate were isolated from naïve (Day 0) and infected (Day 6) IL-12p40 knockout and C57BL/6J wildtype mice and analysed using Affymetrix Mouse Genechip MOE430A. Quality control of the samples was carried out using hierarchical clustering. Analysis of the data was performed to generate reliable and manageable gene lists for the lymph nodes and oral tissues, and of highly expressed genes that could be verified using traditional molecular methods
