**2. Recognition of** *C. albicans* **in mucosal surfaces**

The epithelial cells represent the first line of defense against Candida infection on mucosal surfaces. As the predominant cells in the innate immunity of the host, epithelial cells express pattern recognition receptors, which recognize *C. albicans* by interacting with pathogen-associated molecular patterns on the fungal cells. However, there are three major groups of these receptors (Toll-like receptors, C-type lectin receptors and nod-like receptors) but only certain Toll-like receptors and C-type lectin receptors on epithelial surfaces recognize *C. albicans*. In addition to pattern recognition receptors, other cell-surface proteins, such as E-cadherin and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor, can also recognize Candida and these are unsurprisingly implicated in Candida adherence and endocytosis [6, 7].
