Candida albicans is the leading cause of healthcare associated bloodstream infections. Chemokine CXCL13 is well-known involved in inflammation, but its role in candidemia has not been assessed. Our study firstly demonstrated that serum CXCL13 levels were significantly elevated in candidemic patients compared with bacteremic patients and control subjects by ELISA, and CXCL13 concentrations were positively and significantly correlated with clinical Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores and several laboratory parameters in patients. Moreover, ROC curve analysis showed the diagnostic efficiency of CXCL13 was superior to CRP and PCT. To further study the role of CXCL13, a mouse model was established. Importantly, the data showed the dramatically elevated levels of CXCL13 in mice serum and infected kidney, were significantly correlated with renal fungal burden and pathology scores. In conclusion, our results indicated that CXCL13 had strong potential as a novel biomarker of diagnosis and prognosis for candidemia.

白色念珠菌是医疗保健相关的血液感染的主要原因。趋化因子CXCL13众所周知与炎症有关，但尚未评估其在念珠菌血症中的作用。我们的研究首先证明，通过ELISA，念珠菌病患者的血清CXCL13水平显着高于细菌血症患者和对照组，并且CXCL13浓度与患者的临床顺序器官衰竭评估（SOFA）评分和多项实验室指标呈正相关且显着相关。此外，ROC曲线分析显示CXCL13的诊断效率优于CRP和PCT。为了进一步研究CXCL13的作用，建立了小鼠模型。重要的是，数据显示，小鼠血清和受感染的肾脏中CXCL13的水平显着升高，与肾脏真菌负荷和病理评分显着相关。总之，我们的结果表明CXCL13作为候选念珠菌病诊断和预后的新型生物标志物具有强大的潜力。