Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, which causes various diseases including lymphadenitis, congenital infection of fetuses and life-threatening toxoplasmic encephalitis in immunocompromised individuals. Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ)-mediated immune responses are essential for controlling tachyzoite proliferation during both acute acquired infection and reactivation of infection in the brain. Both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells produce this cytokine in response to infection. Murine models demonstrated that both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells are protective against reactivation of infection, although the latter have more potent protective activity. Various signaling molecules including MyD88, protein kinase C-theta, and nuclear factor-κB family transcription factors are important for T cells in inducing and/or maintaining their protective function. IL-12, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, IL-27, and IL-33 are involved in regulating resistance to T. gondii in the brain. IFN-γ can activate microglia, astrocytes, and macrophages and these activated cells control proliferation of tachyzoites using different molecules depending on the cell types and species of the host. IFN-γ also plays a critical role in recruitment of T cells into the brain after infection by inducing expression of adhesion molecule, VCAM-1, on cerebrovascular endothelial cells and of chemokines such as CXCL9, CXCL10 and CCL5. A recent study revealed that CD8+ T cells are able to remove T. gondii cysts, the stage of the parasite in chronic infection, from the brain through their perforin-mediated activity. Thus, the resistance to cerebral infection with T. gondii requires a coordinated network utilizing both IFN-γ- and perforin-mediated immune responses. Elucidating how these two protective mechanisms function and collaborate in the brain against T. gondii will be crucial in developing a new method to prevent and eradicate this parasitic infection.

T cells are required to maintain the latency of chronic infection with Toxoplasma gondii in the brain. Here, we examined the role of non-glutamic acid-leucine-arginine CXC chemokine CXCL9 for T-cell recruitment to prevent reactivation of infection with T. gondii. Severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice were infected and treated with sulfadiazine to establish a chronic infection. Immune T cells from infected wild-type mice were transferred into the SCID mice in combination with treatment with anti-CXCL9 or control sera. Three days later, sulfadiazine was discontinued to initiate reactivation of infection. Numbers of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells isolated from the brains were markedly less in mice treated with anti-CXCL9 serum than in mice treated with control serum at 3 days after sulfadiazine discontinuation. Amounts of tachyzoite (acute stage form of T. gondii)-specific SAG1 mRNA and numbers of foci associated with tachyzoites were significantly greater in the former than the latter at 5 days after sulfadiazine discontinuation. An accumulation of CD3(+) T cells into the areas of tachyzoite growth was significantly less frequent in the SCID mice treated with anti-CXCL9 serum than in mice treated with control serum. These results indicate that CXCL9 is crucial for recruiting immune T cells into the brain and inducing an accumulation of the T cells into the areas where tachyzoites proliferate to prevent reactivation of chronic T. gondii infection.

In vitro studies demonstrated that microglia and astrocytes produce IFN-γ in response to various stimulations including LPS. However, the physiological role of IFN-γ production by brain-resident cells including glial cells in resistance against cerebral infections remains unknown. We analyzed the role of IFN-γ production by brain-resident cells in resistance to reactivation of cerebral infection with Toxoplasma gondii using a murine model. Our study using bone marrow chimeric mice revealed that IFN-γ production by brain-resident cells is essential for upregulating IFN-γ-mediated protective innate immune responses to restrict cerebral T. gondii growth. Studies using a transgenic strain that expresses IFN-γ only in CD11b+ cells suggested that IFN-γ production by microglia, which is the only CD11b+ cell population among brain-resident cells, is able to suppress the parasite growth. Furthermore, IFN-γ produced by brain-resident cells is pivotal for recruiting T cells into the brain to control the infection. These results indicate that IFN-γ produced by brain-resident cells is crucial for facilitating both the protective innate and T cell-mediated immune responses to control cerebral infection with T. gondii.

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dReactivation of chronic infection with Toxoplasma gondii can cause life-threatening toxoplasmic encephalitis in immunocompromised individuals. We examined the role of VCAM-1/␣4␤1 integrin interaction in T cell recruitment to prevent reactivation of the infection in the brain. SCID mice were infected and treated with sulfadiazine to establish a chronic infection. VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 were the endothelial adhesion molecules detected on cerebral vessels of the infected SCID and wild-type animals. Immune T cells from infected wild-type mice were treated with anti-␣4 integrin or control antibodies and transferred into infected SCID or nude mice, and the animals received the same antibody every other day. Three days later, sulfadiazine was discontinued to initiate reactivation of infection. Expression of mRNAs for CD3␦, CD4, CD8␤, gamma interferon (IFN-␥), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS2) (an effector molecule to inhibit T. gondii growth) and the numbers of CD4 ؉ and CD8 ؉ T cells in the brain were significantly less in mice treated with anti-␣4 integrin antibody than in those treated with control antibody at 3 days after sulfadiazine discontinuation. At 6 days after sulfadiazine discontinuation, cerebral tachyzoite-specific SAG1 mRNA levels and numbers of inflammatory foci associated with tachyzoites were markedly greater in anti-␣4 integrin antibody-treated than in control antibody-treated animals, even though IFN-␥ and NOS2 mRNA levels were higher in the former than in the latter. These results indicate that VCAM-1/␣4␤1 integrin interaction is crucial for prompt recruitment of immune T cells and induction of IFN-␥-mediated protective immune responses during the early stage of reactivation of chronic T. gondii infection to control tachyzoite growth.