Relationship of Toxoplasma Gondii Exposure with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Objective: Toxoplasma gondii infection is a very common parasitic disease in human. In Turkey, the rate of seropositivity was reported as 23.1% to 36%. Because of the high affinity of parasite into Central Nervous System (CNS), chronic toxoplasma infection has been found correlated with many neuropsychiatric disorders, including altered mental status, obsessive-compulsive disorder, cognitive impairment, epilepsy, headache and schizophrenia. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether T. gondii has any role in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) by measuring anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies. Methods: Fifty-two MS patients followed up and 45 controls with similar age and socioeconomic status were included in the study. Anti-T.gondii IgL antibodies of the patients and controls were studied in blood with micro-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results: Of 52 MS patients included in the study, 37 had RRMS, 10 PPMS and 5 SPMS. Mean age of onset of the disease was 31.7±10.4 (min; 14 and max; 53). Twenty three of 52 (44.2%) cases with MS and 11 of 45 (24.4%) healthy controls were positive for anti-T.gondii IgG antibodies. There was a statistically significant difference between the rates of positivity between the MS patient group and control group (p=0.042).Conclusion: This study shows a relation of chronic T. Gondii infection with MS. According to this study, experienced T.gondii infection may be one of the several environmental risk factors for MS. ÖZET Amaç: Toxoplasma gondii enfeksiyonu insanda görülen çok yaygın bir paraziter hastalıktır. Türkiye'de seropozitiflik oranı% 23.1% 36 olarak bildirilmiştir. Kronik toxoplazma enfeksiyonu, parazitin Santral Sinir Sistemine'ne (SSS) yüksek afinitesi olduğu için; obsesif-kompulsif bozukluk, bilişsel bozukluk, epilepsi, baş ağrısı ve şizofreni dahil olmak üzere, birçok nöropsikiyatrik hastalıklar ile ilişkili bulunmuştur. Bu çalışmanın amacı, T. gondiyle ilişkili anti-T gondii IgG antikorlarını ölçerek Multipl Sklerozda (MS) her hangi bir rolü olup olmadığını araştırmaktır. Yöntem: Çalışmaya 52 MS hastası ve benzer yaş ve sosyoekonomik statüye sahip 45 kontrol hastası çalışmaya dahil edildi. Hasta ve kontrol grubu kanlarında (ELISA) tekniğiyle immunosorbent assay mikro-enzim-bağlantılı anti-T.gondii IgG antikorları incelendi. Çalışmaya dahil edilen 52 MS hastasının 37'si RRMS, 10'u PPMS ve 5'i SPMS idi. Bulgular: Hastalığın başlangıç yaş ortalaması 31.7±10.4 (min, 14 ve maksimum; 53) idi. 52 MS hastasının 23'ünde (% 44.2) ve 45 sağlıklı kontrol grubunun 11'inde (%24.4) anti-T.gondii IgG pozitifliği vardı. MS hasta grubu ve kontrol grubu (p= 0.042) arasındaki pozitiflik oranları karşılaştırıldığında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı fark vardı. Sonuç: Bu çalışma, MS ile kronik T. gondii enfeksiyonu arasındaki ilişkiyi göstermektedir. Bu çalışmaya göre T.gondii enfeksiyonu, MS için çeşitli çevresel risk faktörlerinden biri olabilir. Anahtar kelimeler: Multipl skleroz, Toxoplasma Gondii, kronik enfeksiyon, otoimmünite Eur J Gen Med 2016; 13(1): 58-63 Toxoplasma Gondii exposure...

The Role of Toxoplasma gondii Infection Among Multiple Sclerosis Patient Compared to Ordinary People in South of Iran: A Case-Control Study

“…They included family members of MS patients as the control group, so the likelihood of parasitic infection in the control group was almost similar to the MS group (14). Our findings were consistent with the findings of Oruc et al (10), who found a direct relationship between the seropositivity of toxoplasmosis and MS. However, in contrast to our work, their sample size was very small, so we decided to use a larger sample size.…”

Associations between Toxoplasma gondii Infection and Multiple Sclerosis: A Case-Control Seroprevalence Study

“…The associations of T. gondii infection with MS was positively significant even by adjustment for covariates. Similarly, studies in Turkey ( 21 ) and Iran ( 22 , 23 ) showed significant positive associations between latent toxoplasmosis and MS, however some others in Mexico ( 31 ), Italy ( 32 ), Germany ( 20 ), Iran ( 24 ) and Latin America ( 33 ) indicated a negative association. More recently (2021), in a meta-analysis the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was lower in MS patients than in controls; however, differences were not statistically significant (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.50–0.93) ( 18 ).…”

“…Negative associations between the T. gondii infection and MS have been reported in studies in Turkey ( 19 ) and Germany ( 20 ). In contrast, T. gondii seropositivity was significantly associated to MS ( 21 – 23 ). In Iran, 50 MS patients and 50 of their family members were assessed for T. gondii antibodies and the two groups had similar anti- T. gondii IgG titers ( 24 ).…”

Toxoplasma gondii attenuates the ethidium bromide induced demyelination lesions in multiple sclerosis model rats

“…According to various hypotheses about the protection against multiple sclerosis in people who have had an initial exposure to infectious diseases as well as the increase in the prevalence of multiple sclerosis in countries with the high level of health care standards compared to developing countries shows an inverse relationship among them (Libbey et al 2014). However, there are con icting results to date, some epidemiological studies show the association among Toxoplasmosis infection and multiple sclerosis, and also numerous sero-epidemiological studies showed a reverse association between microbial infections and MS, Researchers have recently discovered a link between T.gondii infection and neurological problems (Oruç et al 2016). Although various studies showed a possible association between T.gondii infection and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus (Fischer et al 2013), association between toxoplasmosis and MS is still unclear and needs further investigations (Nicoletti et al 2020;Saberi et al 2018).…”