Evaluation of Enolase1 and IL-9 as Biomarkers to Determine Stratifying Severity of Vaginal Candidiasis in Iraqi Women

Vaginal candidiasis is an opportunistic fungal infection of the lower female reproductive tract caused by Candida species. This study aimed to investigate the roles of Enolase 1 and Interleukin-9 in the pathophysiology of vaginal candidiasis and examine their correlations with anthropometric and lipid profile parameters. A total of 120 participants were enrolled, including 80 patients with VC and 40 healthy controls. Patients were classified into Candida albicans and non-Candida albicans groups based on clinical and microbiological criteria. Serum and vaginal secretions levels of ENO-1 and IL-9 were measured using ELISA, while lipid profiles were assessed spectrophotometrically. Both ENO-1 and IL-9 levels were significantly higher in the serum and secretions of infected individuals compared to controls. A significant positive correlation was observed between serum IL-9 and ENO-1 in secretions within the C. albicans group. The combination of ENO-1 and IL-9 in vaginal secretions showed excellent diagnostic performance in distinguishing infected individuals from healthy ones, with AUC values approaching 1.00 in both the C. albicans and non-C. albicans groups. These findings support the potential of ENO-1 and IL-9 as dual biomarkers for the detection and monitoring of vaginal candidiasis, offering promising tools for improving diagnosis and guiding personalized treatment strategies.