interferon-gamma – Toxoplasma gondii & Human Phenotype

The known and missing links between Toxoplasma gondii and schizophrenia

October 6, 2016
Elsheikha, H.M., Busselberg, D., Zhu, X.Q.
Metabolic Brain Disease 2016; 31: 749-759.

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Relationship of Toxoplasma Gondii Exposure with Multiple Sclerosis

January 4, 2016
Oruc, S.
European Journal of General Medicine, 2016, 13: 58-63

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Toxoplasma gondii immunoglobulin G antibodies and nonfatal suicidal self-directed violence

October 11, 2012
Zhang, Y. F., Traskman-Bendz, L., Janelidze, S., Langenberg, P., Saleh, A., Constantine, N., Okusaga, O., Bay-Richter, C., Brundin, L., Postolache, T. T.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2012; 73: 1069-1076

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Objective: The primary aim was to relate Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity and serointensity to scores on the self-rated Suicide Assessment Scale (SUAS-S). Another aim was to reevaluate the previously reported positive association between T gondii serointensity and a history of nonfatal suicidal self-directed violence. Method: This cross-sectional, observational study compared T gondii serointensity and seropositivity in plasma from 54 adult suicide attempters (inpatients at Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden) and 30 adult control subjects (randomly selected from the municipal population register in Lund, Sweden) recruited between 2006 and 2010.The potential of patients and controls for self-directed violence was evaluated with the SUAS-S. Psychiatric diagnoses were made according to DSM-IV criteria. Plasma samples were tested for immunoglobulin G antibodies to T gondii, cytomegalovirus, and herpes simplex virus type 1. Data were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression to investigate the association between T gondii serointensity or seropositivity and a history of nonfatal suicidal self-directed violence; multivariable linear regression was used to explore the relationship between T gondii serointensify or seropositivity and the SUAS-S. Both regression models included sex, age, and body mass index as covariates. Results: Seropositivity of T gondii (adjusted odds ratio [OR]=7.12; 95% CI, 1.66-30.6; P=.008) and serointensity of T gondii (adjusted OR=2.01; 95% CI, 1.09-3.71; P=.03) were positively associated with a history of nonfatal suicidal self-directed violence. Seropositivity of T gondii was associated with higher SUAS-S scores, a relationship significant for the whole sample (P=.026), but not for suicide attempters only. No significant associations with other pathogens were identified. Conclusions: These results are consistent with previous reports on the association between T gondii infection and nonfatal suicidal self-directed violence. Confirming these results in future large longitudinal studies and including suicide as an outcome may lead to novel individualized approaches in suicide prevention. J Clin Psychiatry 2012;73 (8):1069-1076 (c) Copyright 2012 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.

Could Toxoplasma gondii have any role in Alzheimer disease?

October 19, 2011
Kusbeci, O. Y., Miman, O., Yaman, M., Aktepe, O. C., Yazar, S.
Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders 2011; 25: 1-3

Neuropathological changes and clinical features of autism spectrum disorder participants are similar to that reported in congenital and chronic cerebral toxoplasmosis in humans and mice

October 19, 2010
Prandota J.
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 2010; 4: 103-118.

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Anatomic, histopathologic, and MRI/SPET studies of autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) patients' brains confirm existence of very early developmental deficits. In congenital and chronic murine toxoplasmosis several cerebral anomalies also have been reported, and worldwide, approximately two billion people are chronically infected with T. gondii with largely yet unknown consequences. The aim of the study was therefore to compare brain abnormalities in ASD patients with those found in mice with cerebral toxoplasmosis (CT) because this may help in understanding pathophysiology of ASD. Data from available published studies were analyzed to compare postmortem pathologic changes found in the brains of ASD patients with those of mice developed after intraperitoneal T.gondii infection. Patients with ASD had the following brain abnormalities: active neuroinflammatory process notably in cerebellum, microglial nodules, accumulation of perivascular macrophages, decreased number and size of Purkinje cells in cerebellar nuclei and inferior olive, hypoperfusion of brain. Mice with congenital toxoplasmosis also had persistent neuroinflammation and ventricular enlargement, periventricular edema, meningeal and perivascular inflammation, and focal loss of Purkinje and granule cells. In murine acquired CT, the brain anomalies included: ventricular dilatation probably reflecting loss of brain parenchyma; perivascular inflammation particularly in hippocampus, and periaqueductal/periventricular areas, Purkinje cell layer markedly disfigured with focal loss of cells: perivascular cuffing by mononuclear cells and localized microglial/inflammatory nodules. Infection of mice with different strains of T. gondii resulted in distinctive neuropathological changes and various stadium of maturity of cysts and the parasite itself, which is in line with the diversity of the autistic phenotypes. Also, the abnormalities in behavior and clinical features associated with autism resembled that reported in chronic latent toxoplasmosis in humans and rodents. All these similarities suggest that T gondii should be regarded as an important infectious factor that may trigger development of ASD and some other neurodegenerative diseases, such as obsessive-compulsive and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders, and cryptogenic epilepsy. Thus, all these patients should be tested for T. gondii infection. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.