Toxoplasma gondii infection and peripheral-blood gene expression profiling of older people reveals dysregulation of cytokines and identifies hub genes as potential therapeutic targets

Toxoplasma gondii IgG Serointensity Is Positively Associated With Frailty

“…Moreover, while chronic infections perpetuate and fuel inflammaging, they also accelerate T cell senescence ( 36 ), deficits in immune surveillance and defense functions leading to vulnerability to infections and impaired response to vaccines ( 36–38 ), and thus decrease the host’s ability to prevent subsequent reactivations of T. gondii. Ex vivo stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from older T. gondii -seropositives with T. gondii tachyzoite antigens results in robust secretion of interferon gamma and IL-2 and activation of specific gene network and regulatory microRNA affecting immune gene networks with potentially broad behavioral and health implications ( 39 ). Furthermore, studies in mice demonstrate that T. gondii secretes proteins such as dense granule protein (GRA15), which modulates nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), a pathway with a key role in aging ( 40 ), via TNF receptor-associated factors ( 41 ).…”