Cytokine gene expression in patients with symptomatic toxoplasmosis

Abstract

This study evaluated levels of mRNA expression of 9 cytokines from patients with ocular and disseminated toxoplasmosis. A total of 77
clinical samples was analyzed and they were divided into 4 Groups. The Group I was constituted of autopsy samples (cerebral and pulmonary
paraffin tissues) from 11 patients with disseminated toxoplasmosis and AIDS. The peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated
from 23 patients with ocular toxoplasmosis (Group II) and 9 individuals with chronic toxoplasmosis (Group III). Next, PBMC samples were
stimulated with in vitro with a crude Toxoplasma gondii antigen. Negative controls (Group IV) consisted of 7 PBMC from patients seronegative
for toxoplasmosis and 16 paraffin tissue samples (brain and lung) from patients negative for toxoplasmosis and HIV. mRNA expression for IFN-γ, TNF-α, TGF-β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17 and IL-27 was determined by qPCR. The results showed a significant increase in levels of mRNA expression for IL-6, IL-10 and TGB-β in patients with ocular toxoplasmosis. These patients also had lower mRNA expression for IFN-γ than those chronic individuals. In patients with disseminated toxoplasmosis and AIDS, levels of mRNA expression for TGF-β and IL-6 were detected in the brain and lung. IL-6 was significantly lower than TGF-β. To date, this is the first study to investigate an immune response of patients with symptomatic toxoplasmosis through the mRNA expression profile of the cytokines of interest.