Antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in Individuals with First-Episode Schizophrenia

Yolken, Robert H.; Bachmann, Silke; Rouslanova, Inna; Lillehoj, Erik P.; Ford, Glen; Torrey, E. Fuller; Schröeder, Johannes

doi:10.1086/319221

Cited by 144 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Toxoplasma gondii is able to pass both sexual and asexual parts of its life cycle in feline (cat) as the final host, and a wide spectrum of warm-blooded vertebrate hosts including humans as intermediate hosts (5). The parasites pass through the placenta, blood transfusions, infected needles, vegetables contaminated with oocysts and undercooked meat and its' products (6). Increased human contact with domestic animals and wildlife can raise Toxoplasma infections.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Patients of the Isfahan Province

et al. 2016

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Background: Toxoplasma gondii, the etiologic agent of toxoplasmosis, is the most prevalent protozoan parasite in the world. Objectives: Due to high prevalence of toxoplasmosis as well zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis with Leishmania major origin in Isfahan, the main objective of this study was to determine, whether there is any correlation between these two protozoan infections and the intensity of the high prevalence of co-infection. Methods: All the case and control samples (80 individuals), collected from suspected patients that had referred for a skin test to the Isfahan dermatology and Leishmaniasis research center from August to November 2014, were investigated. About 2 mL of venipuncture blood was taken from each case and control group member, and serum was separated and stored at -20°C until the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of anti-Toxoplasma gondii specific IgM and IgG antibodies. Results: Overall, 27 (33.8%) candidates in the control group and 33 (41.3%) patients with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) were positive for Toxo-IgG. All samples were found to be Toxo-IgM negative. The prevalence difference of Toxoplasma infection in healthy controls and CL patients was not significant. Conclusions:The results of the present study showed that the prevalence difference of Toxoplasma infection in healthy controls and CL patients was not significant. This means, there was no relationship between infection with CL and toxoplasmosis, thus infection with Toxoplasma gondii wasn't a risk factor for infection with Leishmaniasis; Toxoplasma gondii didn't show a preventive or inhibitory role against Leishmania infection.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Patients of the Isfahan Province

et al. 2016

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“…Our results are consistent with previous studies that found increased serotiters in first-episode patients with schizophrenia. 33,34 As mentioned before, increased serotiters are not necessarily in the range of the microbiologically high titers suggestive of recent infection and, therefore, might rather support the more intense antibody response of the host. 35 Consequently, the higher antibody titers in the first-episode patients, regardless of age, might be based on the special condition of the patients.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Furthermore, studies that report ''increased antibody levels'' in patients must be carefully evaluated because increased antibody levels are not identical to increased frequency of seropositives. 33,34 Our study is the first that also systematically collected information on the putative routes of infection. Patients and controls did not differ with respect to the frequency of these risk factors, but they did differ with respect to the interrelationship between these risk factors and seropositivity: the eating of raw meat in the patients and risky cat contact in the controls were associated with higher seropositivity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A controlled prospective study of Toxoplasma gondii infection in individuals with schizophrenia: Beyond seroprevalence

et al. 2007

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Toxoplasma gondii (TG) infection has been reported to be more frequent in schizophrenia. The interaction of the lifelong persisting parasite with the host's immune system involves T-cell/interferon-gamma-induced degradation of tryptophan and provides a challenge to the host well beyond a possible role in the etiology of schizophrenia. The hypothesis we tested in this study was that TG infection may be more frequent (serofrequency) and/or more intense (serointensity) in patients with schizophrenia or major depression compared with psychiatrically healthy controls. In addition, these measures are associated with the clinical course. We did a cross-sectional, prospective investigation of individuals with schizophrenia (n = 277) and major depression (n = 465) admitted to our department (2002)(2003)(2004)(2005) and of healthy controls (n = 214), with all groups adjusted for age and geographic home region. Serofrequency was comparable between the groups, but serointensity was significantly higher in the patients. In individuals with schizophrenia, serointensity was significantly positively associated with C-reactive protein levels and leukocyte counts, and firstepisode patients yielded significantly higher serotiters. Immunomodulatory medication was associated with decreased serotiters. In addition, the route of infection appears to differ between patients and controls. Thus, our results support increased host responses to TG infection in the patients, as well as increased titers in first-episode patients with schizophrenia; this may relate to the shifted T-helper 1/2 status described in these patients. Therefore, we suggest that TG infection, particularly in individuals with schizophrenia, is an important environmental factor in the interaction between psychiatric vulnerability, genetic background, immunomodulation, and the neurotransmitter systems.

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“…TOXO-specific IgG and IgM antibody levels are elevated in schizophrenia [71][72][73][74][75]. In a study in which other demographic variables might affect age, race, sex, and mortality, it was found that the risk of death in serologically positive individuals was five times higher than Toxoplasma gondii seronegative ones [75].…”

Section: Schizophrenia and Toxoplasmosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Toxoplasmosis and Public Health Genomics

Oymak¹,

Merve²,

Sevilay³

et al. 2017

Toxoplasmosis

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Toxoplasma gondii infection generally causes flu-like symptoms in healthy individuals; however, immunosuppression of the infected individual causes reactivation of the pathogen to its active form and relapse of the toxoplasmosis. Today it is known that toxoplasmosis triggers psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia as well as behavioral changes such as suicide attempts. Although dermatological manifestations are very rare, the dermatological lesions are not unique. In addition, previous toxoplasma infection also causes congenital infections because of placental infection and causes birth defects and spontaneous abortion. T. gondii strains are mainly divided into three main clonal lineages, yet higher recombination rate causes unusual population structure and heterogeneous distribution of the pathogen. Both genetic variations, of the pathogen and the patients, are important for virulence property and success of the therapies. The scientist focuses on the genetic variations of the pathogens and individuals to achieve effective treatment and developed tailor-made medicines. Thus, understanding the molecular basis of the disease and the link of molecular mechanism with host immunity is important to fully know the disease and related disorders. In this chapter, we would like to evaluate the current knowledge on genetic, molecular characteristics of toxoplasmosis in view of public health genomics.

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Antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in Individuals with First-Episode Schizophrenia

Cited by 144 publications

References 12 publications

Investigation of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Patients of the Isfahan Province

Investigation of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Patients of the Isfahan Province

A controlled prospective study of Toxoplasma gondii infection in individuals with schizophrenia: Beyond seroprevalence

Toxoplasmosis and Public Health Genomics

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