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de Barros RAM, Torrecilhas AC, Marciano MAM, Mazuz ML, Pereira-Chioccola VL, Fux B. Toxoplasmosis in Human and Animals Around the World. Diagnosis and Perspectives in the One Health Approach. Acta Trop 2022; 231:106432. [PMID: 35390311 DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2022.106432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Revised: 03/25/2022] [Accepted: 03/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Toxoplasmosis is a unique health disease that significantly affects the health of humans, domestic animals, wildlife and is present in ecosystems, including water, soil and food. Toxoplasma gondii is one of the best-adapted parasites in the word. This parasite is able to persist for long periods in its hosts, in different geographic regions of the word. This review summarizes the current literature of these themes, focusing on: (1) toxoplasmosis, a zoonotic infection; (2) One health approach and toxoplasmosis; (3) human toxoplasmosis; (4) animal toxoplasmosis; (5) toxoplasmosis diagnosis, as immunological, parasitological and molecular diagnosis; (6) T. gondii outbreaks caused by infected meat, milk and dairy products, as well as, vegetables and water consume; (7) studies in experimental models; (8) genetic characterization of T. gondii strains; (9) extracellular vesicles and miRNA; and (10) future perspectives on T. gondii and toxoplasmosis. The vast prevalence of toxoplasmosis in both humans and animals and the dispersion and resistence of T. gondii parasites in environment highlight the importance of the one health approach in diagnostic and control of the disease. Here the different aspects of the one health approach are presented and discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosangela Aparecida Müller de Barros
- Unidade de Medicina Tropical, Departamento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, Vitoria, ES, Brazil.; Programa em Doenças Infecciosas, Centro de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, Vitoria, ES, Brazil..
| | - Ana Claudia Torrecilhas
- Laboratório de Imunologia Celular e Bioquímica de Fungos e Protozoários, Departamento de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Campus Diadema, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil..
| | | | - Monica Leszkowicz Mazuz
- Parasitology Division, Kimron Veterinary Institute, Israeli Veterinary Service and Animal Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Beit Dagan, 5025000, Israel..
| | | | - Blima Fux
- Unidade de Medicina Tropical, Departamento de Patologia, Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, Vitoria, ES, Brazil.; Programa em Doenças Infecciosas, Centro de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, Vitoria, ES, Brazil..
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Barros M, Teixeira D, Vilanova M, Correia A, Teixeira N, Borges M. Vaccines in Congenital Toxoplasmosis: Advances and Perspectives. Front Immunol 2021; 11:621997. [PMID: 33658997 PMCID: PMC7917294 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.621997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Accepted: 12/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Congenital toxoplasmosis has a high impact on human disease worldwide, inducing serious consequences from fetus to adulthood. Despite this, there are currently no human vaccines available to prevent this infection. Most vaccination studies against Toxoplasma gondii infection used animal models in which the infection was established by exogenous inoculation. Here, we review recent research on potential T. gondii vaccines using animal models in which infection was congenitally established. Endeavors in this field have so far revealed that live or subunit vaccines previously found to confer protection against extrinsically established infections can also protect, at least partially, from vertically transmitted infection. Nevertheless, there is no consensus on the more adequate immune response to protect the host and the fetus in congenital infection. Most of the vaccination studies rely on the assessment of maternal systemic immune responses, quantification of parasitic loads in the fetuses, and survival indexes and/or brain parasitic burden in the neonates. More research must be carried out not only to explore new vaccines but also to further study the nature of the elicited immune protection at the maternal-fetal interface. Particularly, the cellular and molecular effector mechanisms at the maternal-fetal interface induced by immunization remain poorly characterized. Deeper knowledge on the immune response at this specific location will certainly help to refine the vaccine-induced immunity and, consequently, to provide the most effective and safest protection against T. gondii vertical infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariana Barros
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Daniela Teixeira
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Manuel Vilanova
- Immunobiology Group, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Departamento de Imuno-Fisiologia e Farmacologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Alexandra Correia
- Immunobiology Group, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Departamento de Imuno-Fisiologia e Farmacologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Natercia Teixeira
- Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit/Rede de Química e Tecnologia (UCIBIO/REQUIMTE), Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Margarida Borges
- Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit/Rede de Química e Tecnologia (UCIBIO/REQUIMTE), Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
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Congenital Toxoplasmosis in Chronically Infected and Subsequently Challenged Ewes. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0165124. [PMID: 27788185 PMCID: PMC5082944 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0165124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2016] [Accepted: 10/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
This experiment studied congenital transmission in sheep experimentally infected with oocysts of Toxoplasma gondii and reinfected at one of three stages of pregnancy. Twenty ewes were experimentally infected with T. gondii strain ME49 (day 0). After the T. gondii infection became chronic (IFAT≤512), the ewes were allocated with rams for coverage. After the diagnosis of pregnancy, these ewes were allocated into four experimental groups (n = 5): I-reinfected with T. gondii on the 40th day of gestation (DG); II-reinfected on DG 80; III-reinfected on DG 120; and IV-saline solution on DG 120 (not reinfected). Five ewes (IFAT<64) were kept as negative controls (uninfected, group V), therefore in groups I-III were infected prior to pregnancy and re-infected during pregnancy, group IV was only infected prior to pregnancy, and group V was not infected. Parasitism by T. gondii was investigated (histopathology, immunohistochemistry, mouse bioassay and PCR) in mothers and lambs tissue. All ewes produced lambs serologically positive for T. gondii. The results of the mouse bioassay, immunohistochemistry and PCR assays revealed the presence of T. gondii in all 20 sheep and their lambs. The congenital transmission of T. gondii was associated with fetal loss and abnormalities in persistently infected sheep and in ewes infected and subsequently reinfected by this protozoan. Therefore, congenital T. gondii infection was common when ewes were chronically infected prior to pregnancy, with or without reinfection during at various stages of gestation.
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Faucette AN, Unger BL, Gonik B, Chen K. Maternal vaccination: moving the science forward. Hum Reprod Update 2014; 21:119-35. [PMID: 25015234 DOI: 10.1093/humupd/dmu041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Infections remain one of the leading causes of morbidity in pregnant women and newborns, with vaccine-preventable infections contributing significantly to the burden of disease. In the past decade, maternal vaccination has emerged as a promising public health strategy to prevent and combat maternal, fetal and neonatal infections. Despite a number of universally recommended maternal vaccines, the development and evaluation of safe and effective maternal vaccines and their wide acceptance are hampered by the lack of thorough understanding of the efficacy and safety in the pregnant women and the offspring. METHODS An outline was synthesized based on the current status and major gaps in the knowledge of maternal vaccination. A systematic literature search in PUBMED was undertaken using the key words in each section title of the outline to retrieve articles relevant to pregnancy. Articles cited were selected based on relevance and quality. On the basis of the reviewed information, a perspective on the future directions of maternal vaccination research was formulated. RESULTS Maternal vaccination can generate active immune protection in the mother and elicit systemic immunoglobulin G (IgG) and mucosal IgG, IgA and IgM responses to confer neonatal protection. The maternal immune system undergoes significant modulation during pregnancy, which influences responsiveness to vaccines. Significant gaps exist in our knowledge of the efficacy and safety of maternal vaccines, and no maternal vaccines against a large number of old and emerging pathogens are available. Public acceptance of maternal vaccination has been low. CONCLUSIONS To tackle the scientific challenges of maternal vaccination and to provide the public with informed vaccination choices, scientists and clinicians in different disciplines must work closely and have a mechanistic understanding of the systemic, reproductive and mammary mucosal immune responses to vaccines. The use of animal models should be coupled with human studies in an iterative manner for maternal vaccine experimentation, evaluation and optimization. Systems biology approaches should be adopted to improve the speed, accuracy and safety of maternal vaccine targeting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Azure N Faucette
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA Perinatology Research Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Detroit, MI 48201, USA
| | - Benjamin L Unger
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA Perinatology Research Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Detroit, MI 48201, USA
| | - Bernard Gonik
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA
| | - Kang Chen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA Perinatology Research Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Detroit, MI 48201, USA Tumor Biology and Microenvironment Program, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit, MI 48201, USA Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA Department of Oncology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA Mucosal Immunology Studies Team, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
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