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Toxoplasma gondii & Human Phenotype

Compendium of Known Effects and Ongoing Research

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Latent toxoplasmosis aggravates anxiety- and depressive-like behaviour and suggest a role of gene-environment interactions in the behavioural response to the parasite

February 4, 2020
Bay-Richter, C., Petersen, E., Liebenberg, N., Elfving, B., Wegener, G.
Behavioural Brain Research 2019, 364: 133 - 139
Click for abstract
Toxoplasma gondii (TOX) is an intracellular parasite which infects warm-blooded animals including humans. An increasing number of clinical studies now hypothesize that latent toxoplasmosis may be a risk factor for the development of psychiatric disease. For depression, the results have been varied and we speculate that genetic background is important for the response to latent toxoplasmosis. The main objective of this study was to elucidate gene - environment interactions in the behavioural response to TOX infection by use of genetically vulnerable animals (Flinders sensitive line, FSL) compared to control animals (Flinders resistant line, FRL). Our results show that all infected animals displayed increased anxiety-like behaviour whereas only genetically vulnerable animals (FSL rats) showed depressive-like behaviour as a consequence of the TOX infection. Furthermore, peripheral cytokine expression was increased following the infection, primarily independent of strain. In the given study 14 cytokines, chemokines, metabolic hormones, and growth factors were quantified with the bead-based Luminex200 system, however, only IL-1 alpha expression was affected differently in FSL animals compared to FRL rats. These results suggest that latent TOX infection can induce anxiety-like behaviour independent of genetic background. Intriguingly, we also report that for depressive-like behaviour only the vulnerable rat strain is affected. This could explain the discrepancy in the literature as to whether TOX infection is a risk factor for depressive symptomatology. We propose that the low grade inflammation caused by the chronic infection is related to the development of behavioural symptoms.

Tagged: altered behavior, antidepressant, anxety, cytokines, disorders, dpression, gene-environment interaction, gondii infection, induction, level, miceexpression, tests, Toxoplasma gondii

Mental health

Tumours of the brain and presence of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii

November 7, 1993
Ryan, P., Hurley, S. F., Johnson, A. M., Salzberg, M., Lee, M. W., North, J. B., Mcneil, J. J., Mcmichael, A. J.
International Journal of Epidemiology 1993; 22: 412-419
Click for abstract
The possible association between prior infection with the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii and development of brain tumours was investigated as part of two Australian population-based case-control studies of adult brain tumours. One study, based in Adelaide, South Australia, collected blood from 73 subjects with glioma, 53 subjects with meningioma and 348 controls. The other study, based in Melbourne, Victoria, collected blood from 44 subjects with glioma and 67 controls. All tumours had been verified histologically. IgG antibodies to T. gondii were measured using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) techniques. In both the centre-specific and combined analyses, there was no difference between subjects with glioma and controls in the prevalence of antibody test-positivity (35% test-positive in glioma versus 33% in controls, age-, sex- and centre-adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.00, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.64-1.56). In the Adelaide study, there was a statistically significant increased risk of meningioma associated with antibody test-positivity (47% test-positive in meningioma versus 31% in controls, P = 0.02, adjusted OR = 2.09, 95% CI: 1.14-3.83). Our results do not support the hypothesis that antibody positivity to T. gondii is a risk factor for glioma, but suggest that it might be associated with meningioma.

Tagged: childhood, diagnosis, immunosorbent-assay elisa, los-angeles county, meningiomas, nervous system, risk factors, tests, tumors

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