Prevalence of anti-toxoplasma antibodies in patients with autoimmune diseases

Shapira, Yinon; Agmon‐Levin, Nancy; Selmi, Carlo; Petríková, Jana; Barzilai, Ori; Ram, Maya; Bizzaro, Nicola; Valentini, Gabriele; Matucci‐Cerinic, Marco; Anaya, Juan Manuel; Katz, Bat Sheva Porat; Shoenfeld, Yehuda

doi:10.1016/j.jaut.2012.01.001

Cited by 75 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 81 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…However, our unpublished data suggest that toxoplasmosis could also play a role in the production of thyroid hormones. This finding is supported by recent literature data demonstrating the prevalence of anti- Toxoplasma IgG antibodies in patients with thyroid autoimmunity [277], [357] as well as in many other autoimmune diseases, as compared with controls (Table 2). The autoantibody burden has also been demonstrated even in non-autoimmune individuals during infections [358].…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Toxoplasmosis – A Global Threat. Correlation of Latent Toxoplasmosis with Specific Disease Burden in a Set of 88 Countries

et al. 2014

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BackgroundToxoplasmosis is becoming a global health hazard as it infects 30–50% of the world human population. Clinically, the life-long presence of the parasite in tissues of a majority of infected individuals is usually considered asymptomatic. However, a number of studies show that this ‘asymptomatic infection’ may also lead to development of other human pathologies.Aims of the StudyThe purpose of the study was to collect available geoepidemiological data on seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis and search for its relationship with mortality and disability rates in different countries.Methods and FindingsPrevalence data published between 1995–2008 for women in child-bearing age were collected for 88 countries (29 European). The association between prevalence of toxoplasmosis and specific disease burden estimated with age-standardized Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) or with mortality, was calculated using General Linear Method with Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDP), geolatitude and humidity as covariates, and also using nonparametric partial Kendall correlation test with GDP as a covariate. The prevalence of toxoplasmosis correlated with specific disease burden in particular countries explaining 23% of variability in disease burden in Europe. The analyses revealed that for example, DALY of 23 of 128 analyzed diseases and disease categories on the WHO list showed correlations (18 positive, 5 negative) with prevalence of toxoplasmosis and another 12 diseases showed positive trends (p<0.1). For several obtained significant correlations between the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis and specific diseases/clinical entities, possible pathophysiological, biochemical and molecular explanations are presented.ConclusionsThe seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis correlated with various disease burden. Statistical associations does not necessarily mean causality. The precautionary principle suggests however that possible role of toxoplasmosis as a triggering factor responsible for development of several clinical entities deserves much more attention and financial support both in everyday medical practice and future clinical research.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Toxoplasmosis – A Global Threat. Correlation of Latent Toxoplasmosis with Specific Disease Burden in a Set of 88 Countries

et al. 2014

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“…Anti- Toxoplasma antibody IgM was more prevalent in patients with anti-phospholipid syndrome ( p < 0.01), systemic sclerosis ( p < 0.05) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD; p < 0.05) than in controls. These findings strongly support that Toxoplasma may contribute to the autoimmune disease pathogenesis (Shapira et al, 2012). …”

Section: Autoimmune Disease and Toxoplasmosissupporting

confidence: 77%

“…However, the nature of this interaction and mechanism between the development of acute toxoplasmosis and immunosuppressant therapies are still being investigated. In a clinical trial, sera of 1514 patients with 11 different autoimmune diseases from health centers in Europe and Latin America and 437 matched controls examined for the prevalence of anti- Toxoplasma antibodies, IgG and IgM and auto-antibodies (Shapira et al, 2012). Fourty-two percent of patients had anti- Toxoplasma antibody IgG, versus 29% of those without autoimmune complications ( p < 0.0001).…”

Section: Autoimmune Disease and Toxoplasmosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal and congenital toxoplasmosis, currently available and novel therapies in horizon

2014

Front. Microbiol.

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Over one billion people worldwide are predicted to harbor Toxoplasma infection frequently with unknown lifelong health consequences. Toxoplasmosis is an important cause of foodborne, inflammatory illnesses, as well as congenital abnormalities. Ubiquitous Toxoplasma has a unique tropism for central nervous system with a mind-bugging effect and is transmitted sexually through semen. Currently available therapies are ineffective for persistent chronic disease and congenital toxoplasmosis or have severe side effects which may result in life-threatening complications. There is an urgent need for safe and effective therapies to eliminate or treat this cosmopolitan infectious and inflammatory disease. This investigation discusses pathogenesis of maternal and congenital toxoplasmosis, the currently available therapies in practice, and the experimental therapeutic modalities for promising future trials.

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“…Therefore, a connection between T1D and autoimmune diseases is conceivable. Especially, anti-toxoplasma antibodies might have an effect to autoimmune diseases [18].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrative Pathway-Based Approach for Genome-Wide Association Studies: Identification of New Pathways for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Type 1 Diabetes

et al. 2013

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Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) led to the identification of numerous novel loci for a number of complex diseases. Pathway-based approaches using genotypic data provide tangible leads which cannot be identified by single marker approaches as implemented in GWAS. The available pathway analysis approaches mainly differ in the employed databases and in the applied statistics for determining the significance of the associated disease markers.So far, pathway-based approaches using GWAS data failed to consider the overlapping of genes among different pathways or the influence of protein–interactions. We performed a multistage integrative pathway (MIP) analysis on three common diseases - Crohn's disease (CD), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and type 1 diabetes (T1D) - incorporating genotypic, pathway, protein- and domain-interaction data to identify novel associations between these diseases and pathways. Additionally, we assessed the sensitivity of our method by studying the influence of the most significant SNPs on the pathway analysis by removing those and comparing the corresponding pathway analysis results. Apart from confirming many previously published associations between pathways and RA, CD and T1D, our MIP approach was able to identify three new associations between disease phenotypes and pathways. This includes a relation between the influenza-A pathway and RA, as well as a relation between T1D and the phagosome and toxoplasmosis pathways. These results provide new leads to understand the molecular underpinnings of these diseases.The developed software herein used is available at http://www.cogsys.cs.uni-tuebingen.de/software/GWASPathwayIdentifier/index.htm.

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Prevalence of anti-toxoplasma antibodies in patients with autoimmune diseases

Cited by 75 publications

References 81 publications

Toxoplasmosis – A Global Threat. Correlation of Latent Toxoplasmosis with Specific Disease Burden in a Set of 88 Countries

Toxoplasmosis – A Global Threat. Correlation of Latent Toxoplasmosis with Specific Disease Burden in a Set of 88 Countries

Maternal and congenital toxoplasmosis, currently available and novel therapies in horizon

Integrative Pathway-Based Approach for Genome-Wide Association Studies: Identification of New Pathways for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Type 1 Diabetes

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