In Vivo Assessment of the Effects of Methotrexate on Latent Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasma and Toxocara seropositivity in juvenile idiopathic arthritis and its relation to disease activity and type of therapies

“…In this study, the patients on none-biologic DMARDs therapy were associated with a high seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in JIA patients. This result agreed with Kuba et al (2014) and Etewa et al (2017) who reported that infected mice treated with methotrexate showed a substantial rise in the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma IgM compared to the control group. The high prevalence of seropositivity of T. gondii among JIA patients who received MTX may be related to immune system suppression by different mechanisms including antiproliferative effects on B and T cells and this could explain the association between none-biologic DMARDs therapy and T. gondii infection ( Quéméneur et al, 2003 ).…”

Behavior and neuropsychiatric changes in experimental chronic toxoplasmosis: Histopathological and immunohistochemical studies

“…These single-celled opportunistic parasites can develop a latent infection by differentiating into encysted bradyzoite forms, that may persist in immunocompetent individuals for the rest of their lives without eliciting any signs of infection [6] . At any time the cysts may induce development of a chronic clinically asymptomatic infection [7] , and can exist for years in the host tissues without generating any local inflammation [8] . However, if the equilibrium between the host immune response and parasite immune escape is disrupted, reactivation of parasite growth is associated with symptoms related to the organ affected [9] .…”