Toxoplasma gondii infection in schizophrenia and associated clinical features

Esshili, Awatef; Thabet, Sihem; Jemli, Achraf; Trifa, Fatma; Mechri, A.; Zaâfrane, F.; Gaha, L.; Juckel, Georg; Babba, Hamouda; Jrad, Besma Bel Hadj

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.08.056

Cited by 50 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Some studies indicated the association of T. gondii with age of onset of schizophrenia in a sex‐dependent manner . We did not find such a relationship in our study group.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 87%

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Association of Toxoplasma gondii infection with schizophrenia and its relationship with suicide attempts in these patients

Ansari-Lari

Farashbandi

Mohammadi

2017

Tropical Med Int Health

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“…Some studies indicated the association of T. gondii with age of onset of schizophrenia in a sex‐dependent manner . We did not find such a relationship in our study group.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 87%

“…. Also, recent studies have indicated a greater severity of clinical symptoms in T. gondii ‐infected male patients with schizophrenia . Regarding the inverse direction of observed association, due to the cross‐sectional nature of our study, some type of selection bias (late look bias) may have occurred.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

Association of Toxoplasma gondii infection with schizophrenia and its relationship with suicide attempts in these patients

Ansari-Lari

Farashbandi

Mohammadi

2017

Tropical Med Int Health

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“…T. gondii, a neurotrophic parasite, plays a role in the development of schizophrenia and causes behavioral changes, suicide attempts, and neuropathological degenerations in the brain tissue [53][54][55][56]74]. T. gondii has a role in the development of behavioral disorders via changes in neuroimmunomodulation and neurotransmission, yet pathophysiological mechanisms are not fully understood by scientists [57,58].…”

Section: Behavioral Changes and Toxoplasmosismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…TOXO-specific IgG and IgM antibody levels are elevated in schizophrenia [71][72][73][74][75]. In a study in which other demographic variables might affect age, race, sex, and mortality, it was found that the risk of death in serologically positive individuals was five times higher than Toxoplasma gondii seronegative ones [75].…”

Section: Schizophrenia and Toxoplasmosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Toxoplasmosis and Public Health Genomics

Oymak¹,

Merve²,

Sevilay³

et al. 2017

Toxoplasmosis

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Toxoplasma gondii infection generally causes flu-like symptoms in healthy individuals; however, immunosuppression of the infected individual causes reactivation of the pathogen to its active form and relapse of the toxoplasmosis. Today it is known that toxoplasmosis triggers psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia as well as behavioral changes such as suicide attempts. Although dermatological manifestations are very rare, the dermatological lesions are not unique. In addition, previous toxoplasma infection also causes congenital infections because of placental infection and causes birth defects and spontaneous abortion. T. gondii strains are mainly divided into three main clonal lineages, yet higher recombination rate causes unusual population structure and heterogeneous distribution of the pathogen. Both genetic variations, of the pathogen and the patients, are important for virulence property and success of the therapies. The scientist focuses on the genetic variations of the pathogens and individuals to achieve effective treatment and developed tailor-made medicines. Thus, understanding the molecular basis of the disease and the link of molecular mechanism with host immunity is important to fully know the disease and related disorders. In this chapter, we would like to evaluate the current knowledge on genetic, molecular characteristics of toxoplasmosis in view of public health genomics.

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“…Considering that the stimulation of macrophages with pathogenassociated molecular patterns or an infectious agent is one of the best methods for evaluating their function, in this study, we encountered schizophrenic macrophages with Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) and compared their immune response with the normal group. Toxoplasma gondii is among the infectious agents that causes neurodegenerative diseases and is a prime candidate of schizophrenia development [22]. For this purpose, PBMC isolated monocytes were differentiated to macrophages and infected with T. gondii.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Immunologic Function of Peripheral Blood Monocytes from Schizophrenic Patients in Response to Toxoplasma Gondii

Noorbala¹,

Hosseini²,

Azizi³

et al. 2020

CEI

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Background: It has been suggested that the function of myeloid immune cells, especially macrophages in schizophrenia patients (SCZ), is impaired. Considering the role of macrophages in induction of inflammatory responses, the purpose of this study is to examine the response of monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) of schizophrenia patients to Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) challenge. Materials and Methods: MDMs were generated from 20 SCZ and 10 healthy controls (HC). The cells were exposed to T. gondii. The Cytokine (IL-10, IL-12, IL-6, and TNF-α) and nitric oxide (NO) productions were measured. The expression of miR146a and miR155 was examined using qPCR. Results: The level of NO was significantly higher in the supernatant of MDMs of SCZ compared with the HC (P≤0.05) in response to T. gondii. There was no difference in cytokine (IL-10, IL-12, IL-6, and TNF-α) production of SCZ compared to the controls. The effect of miR-155/ miR-146a on inflammatory cytokine production was confirmed using anti-miRNAs. There were no significant effect in miR-155/ miR-146a expression of macrophages of schizophrenia patients to T. gondii compared to control. Conclusion: In this study, although the cytokine response and the amount of miR-155/ miR-146a expression of macrophages to T. gondii was not significantly different between the schizophrenia patients and the healthy subjects, the significant differences in the production of nitric oxide strengthen the hypothesis of the functional failure of these cells.

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Toxoplasma gondii infection in schizophrenia and associated clinical features

Cited by 50 publications

References 52 publications

Association of Toxoplasma gondii infection with schizophrenia and its relationship with suicide attempts in these patients

Association of Toxoplasma gondii infection with schizophrenia and its relationship with suicide attempts in these patients

Toxoplasmosis and Public Health Genomics

Evaluation of Immunologic Function of Peripheral Blood Monocytes from Schizophrenic Patients in Response to Toxoplasma Gondii

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