Discrimination between Patients with Acquired Toxoplasmosis and Congenital Toxoplasmosis on the Basis of the Immune Response to Parasite Antigens

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 181; no. 6; pp. 2018 - 2022
• Main Authors: Yamamoto, Joyce H., Lima Vallochi, Adriana, Silveira, Claudio, Kalil Filho, Jorge, Nussenblatt, Robert B., Cunha-Neto, Edécio, Gazzinelli, Ricardo T., Belfort, Rubens, Vicente Rizzo, Luiz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01-06-2000; University of Chicago Press; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Antigens; Antigens, Protozoan - immunology; Biological and medical sciences; Congenital toxoplasmosis; Cytokines; Cytokines - biosynthesis; Eye diseases; Female; Human protozoal diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; interleukin 1; interleukin 12; interleukin 2; Lesions; Lymphocyte Activation; Major Article; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Ocular toxoplasmosis; Parasitic diseases; Protozoal diseases; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta - analysis; T lymphocytes; Toxoplasma gondii; Toxoplasmosis; Toxoplasmosis - immunology; Toxoplasmosis, Congenital - immunology; Tuberculosis; tumor necrosis factor-^a; Infection; Antigen; Human; Protozoa; Apicomplexa; Protozoal disease; Specificity; Immune response; Toxoplasma gondii; Congenital; Toxoplasmosis; Parasitosis
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1086/315494

Many persons infected with Toxoplasma gondii develop ocular lesions. Immunologic parameters in the response to T. gondii were evaluated in infected persons with and without ocular lesions and in noninfected controls. Subjects were divided into groups on the basis of presence of serum antibodies to T. gondii, presence of ocular lesions, and clinical history. Production of interleukin-2 and interferon-γ by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with probable congenital toxoplasmosis was decreased, compared with that in persons with presumed acquired infection. Cell proliferation and delayed-type skin reaction induced by soluble toxoplasma tachyzoite antigen followed the same pattern. Asymptomatic persons showed high levels of interleukin-12 and interferon-γ, whereas persons with ocular lesions had high interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor-± responses toward soluble toxoplasma tachyzoite antigen. These data suggest that patients with ocular disease due to congenital infection show tolerance toward the parasite. Furthermore, susceptibility to ocular lesions after acquired toxoplasmosis is associated with high levels of interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor-±, whereas resistance is associated with high levels of interleukin-12 and interferon-γ.