scholarly journals Toxoplasma gondii Proteasome Subunit Alpha Type 1 with Chitosan: A Promising Alternative to Traditional Adjuvant

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 752
Author(s):  
Zhengqing Yu ◽  
Wenxi Ding ◽  
Muhammad Tahir Aleem ◽  
Junzhi Su ◽  
Junlong Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Parasite Burden ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
Proteasome Subunit ◽  
Humoral Immune ◽  
Alpha Type

As an important zoonotic protozoan, Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) has spread around the world, leading to infections in one-third of the population. There is still no effective vaccine or medicine against T. gondii, and recombinant antigens entrapped within nanospheres have benefits over traditional vaccines. In the present study, we first expressed and purified T. gondii proteasome subunit alpha type 1 (TgPSA1), then encapsulated the recombinant TgPSA1 (rTgPSA1) in chitosan nanospheres (CS nanospheres, rTgPSA1/CS nanospheres) and incomplete Freund’s adjuvant (IFA, rTgPSA1/IFA emulsion). Antigens entrapped in CS nanospheres reached an encapsulation efficiency of 67.39%, and rTgPSA1/CS nanospheres showed a more stable release profile compared to rTgPSA1/IFA emulsion in vitro. In vivo, Th1-biased cellular and humoral immune responses were induced in mice and chickens immunized with rTgPSA1/CS nanospheres and rTgPSA1/IFA emulsion, accompanied by promoted production of antibodies, IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-17, and modulated production of IL-10. Immunization with rTgPSA1/CS nanospheres and rTgPSA1/IFA emulsion conferred significant protection, with prolonged survival time in mice and significantly decreased parasite burden in chickens. Furthermore, our results also indicate that rTgPSA1/CS nanospheres could be used as a substitute for rTgPSA1/IFA emulsion, with the optimal administration route being intramuscular in mass vaccination. Collectively, the results of this study indicate that rTgPSA1/CS nanospheres represent a promising vaccine to protect animals against acute toxoplasmosis.

scholarly journals Licarin-B Exhibits Activity Against the Toxoplasma gondii RH Strain by Damaging Mitochondria and Activating Autophagy

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jili Zhang ◽  
Hongfei Si ◽  
Kun Lv ◽  
Yanhua Qiu ◽  
Jichao Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Parasite Burden ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Ultrastructural Changes ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Dapi Staining

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular pathogen that infects warm-blooded animals and humans. However, side effects limit toxoplasmosis treatment, and new drugs with high efficiency and low toxicity need to be developed. Natural products found in plants have become a useful source of drugs for toxoplasmosis. In this study, twenty natural compounds were screened for anti-T. gondii activity by Giemsa staining or real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in vitro. Among these, licarin-B from nutmeg exhibited excellent anti-T. gondii activity, inhibiting T. gondii invasion and proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, with an EC50 of 14.05 ± 3.96 μg/mL. In the in vivo, licarin-B treatment significantly reduced the parasite burden in tissues compared to no treatment, protected the 90% infected mice from to death at 50 mg/kg.bw. Flow cytometry analysis suggested a significant reduction in T. gondii survival after licarin-B treatment. Ultrastructural changes in T. gondii were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), as licarin-B induced mitochondrial swelling and formation of cytoplasmic vacuoles, an autophagosome-like double-membrane structure and extensive clefts around the T. gondii nucleus. Furthermore, MitoTracker Red CMXRos, MDC, and DAPI staining showed that licarin-B promoted mitochondrial damage, autophagosome formation, and nuclear disintegration, which were consistent with the TEM observations. Together, these findings indicate that licarin-B is a promising anti-T. gondii agent that potentially functions by damaging mitochondria and activating autophagy, leading to T. gondii death.

scholarly journals Nano DNA Vaccine Encoding Toxoplasma gondii Histone Deacetylase SIR2 Enhanced Protective Immunity in Mice

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1582
Author(s):  
Zhengqing Yu ◽  
Yujia Lu ◽  
Wandi Cao ◽  
Muhammad Tahir Aleem ◽  
Junlong Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Histone Deacetylase ◽  
Dna Vaccine ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Lethal Dose ◽  
Parasite Burden ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
Th2 Immune Response ◽  
Plga Nanospheres

The pathogen of toxoplasmosis, Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), is a zoonotic protozoon that can affect the health of warm-blooded animals including humans. Up to now, an effective vaccine with completely protection is still inaccessible. In this study, the DNA vaccine encoding T. gondii histone deacetylase SIR2 (pVAX1-SIR2) was constructed. To enhance the efficacy, chitosan and poly (d, l-lactic-co-glycolic)-acid (PLGA) were employed to design nanospheres loaded with the DNA vaccine, denoted as pVAX1-SIR2/CS and pVAX1-SIR2/PLGA nanospheres. The pVAX1-SIR2 plasmids were transfected into HEK 293-T cells, and the expression was evaluated by a laser scanning confocal microscopy. Then, the immune protections of pVAX1-SIR2 plasmid, pVAX1-SIR2/CS nanospheres, and pVAX1-SIR2/PLGA nanospheres were evaluated in a laboratory animal model. The in vivo findings indicated that pVAX1-SIR2/CS and pVAX1-SIR2/PLGA nanospheres could generate a mixed Th1/Th2 immune response, as indicated by the regulated production of antibodies and cytokines, the enhanced maturation and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expression of dendritic cells (DCs), the induced splenocyte proliferation, and the increased percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. Furthermore, this enhanced immunity could obviously reduce the parasite burden in immunized animals through a lethal dose of T. gondii RH strain challenge. All these results propose that pVAX1-SIR2 plasmids entrapped in chitosan or PLGA nanospheres could be the promising vaccines against acute T. gondii infections and deserve further investigations.

scholarly journals Determination of lumefantrine as an effective drug against Toxoplasma gondii infection – in vitro and in vivo study

Parasitology ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Dawei Wang ◽  
Mengen Xing ◽  
Saeed El-Ashram ◽  
Yingying Ding ◽  
Xiao Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Parasite Burden ◽  
Vero Cells ◽  
Negative Control ◽  
Protective Mechanism ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Mouse Tissues

Abstract Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, which can infect almost all warm-blooded animals, including humans, leading to toxoplasmosis. Currently, the effective treatment for human toxoplasmosis is the combination of sulphadiazine and pyrimethamine. However, both drugs have serious side-effects and toxicity in the host. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the discovery of new anti-T. gondii drugs with high potency and less or no side-effects. Our findings suggest that lumefantrine exerts activity against T. gondii by inhibiting its proliferation in Vero cells in vitro without being toxic to Vero cells (P ≤ 0.01). Lumefantrine prolonged mice infected with T. gondii from death for 3 days at the concentration of 50 μg L−1 than negative control (phosphate-buffered saline treated only), and reduced the parasite burden in mouse tissues in vivo (P ≤ 0.01; P ≤ 0.05). In addition, a significant increase in interferon gamma (IFN-γ) production was observed in high-dose lumefantrine-treated mice (P ≤ 0.01), whereas interleukin 10 (IL-10) and IL-4 levels increased in low-dose lumefantrine-treated mice (P ≤ 0.01). The results demonstrated that lumefantrine may be a promising agent to treat toxoplasmosis, and more experiments on the protective mechanism of lumefantrine should be undertaken in further studies.

scholarly journals Spiroindolone That Inhibits PfATPase4 Is a Potent, Cidal Inhibitor of Toxoplasma gondii TachyzoitesIn VitroandIn Vivo

2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 1789-1792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Zhou ◽  
Alina Fomovska ◽  
Stephen Muench ◽  
Bo-Shiun Lai ◽  
Ernest Mui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Inhibitory Concentration ◽  
Parasite Burden ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Medicine Development ◽  
Lead Candidate ◽  
Oral Doses

ABSTRACTHere, we show that spiroindolone, an effective treatment for plasmodia, is also active againstToxoplasma gondiitachyzoites.In vitro, spiroindolone NITD609 is cidal for tachyzoites (50% inhibitory concentration [IC50], 1μM) and not toxic to human cells at ≥10μM. Two daily oral doses of 100 mg/kg of body weight reduced the parasite burden in mice by 90% (P= 0.002), measured 3 days after the last dose. This inhibition ofT. gondiitachyzoitesin vitroandin vivoindicates that spiroindolone is a promising lead candidate for further medicine development.

scholarly journals Both Innate Immunity and Type 1 Humoral Immunity to Streptococcus pneumoniae Are Mediated by MyD88 but Differ in Their Relative Levels of Dependence on Toll-Like Receptor 2

2005 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 298-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Q. Khan ◽  
Quanyi Chen ◽  
Zheng-Qi Wu ◽  
James C. Paton ◽  
Clifford M. Snapper
Keyword(s):  
Streptococcus Pneumoniae ◽  
Humoral Immunity ◽  
Protein A ◽  
Surface Protein ◽  
Lethal Challenge ◽  
Humoral Immune ◽  
Extracellular Bacterium

ABSTRACT Little is known regarding the role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in regulating protein- and polysaccharide-specific immunoglobulin (Ig) isotype production in response to an in vivo challenge with an extracellular bacterium. In this report we demonstrate that MyD88−/−, but not TLR2−/−, mice are markedly defective in their induction of multiple splenic proinflammatory cytokine- and chemokine-specific mRNAs after intraperitoneal (i.p.) challenge with heat-killed Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular type 14 (S. pneumoniae type 14). This is correlated with analogous responses in splenic cytokine protein release in vitro following addition of S. pneumoniae type 14. Consistent with these data, naïve MyD88−/−, but not TLR2−/−, mice are more sensitive to killing following i.p. challenge with live S. pneumoniae type 14, relative to responses in wild-type mice. However, prior immunization of MyD88−/− mice with heat-killed S. pneumoniae type 14 protects against an otherwise-lethal challenge with live S. pneumoniae type 14. Surprisingly, both MyD88−/− and TLR2−/− mice exhibit striking and equivalent defects in elicitation of type 1 IgG isotypes (IgG3, IgG2b, and IgG2a), but not the type 2 IgG isotype, IgG1, specific for several protein and polysaccharide antigens, in response to i.p. challenge with heat-killed S. pneumoniae type 14. Of note, the type 1 IgG isotype titers specific for pneumococcal surface protein A are reduced in MyD88−/− mice but not TLR2−/− mice. These data suggest that distinct TLRs may differentially regulate innate versus adaptive humoral immunity to intact S. pneumoniae and are the first to implicate a role for TLR2 in shaping an in vivo type 1 IgG humoral immune response to a gram-positive extracellular bacterium.

scholarly journals In vivo and in vitro models show unexpected degrees of virulence among Toxoplasma gondii type II and III isolates from sheep

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercedes Fernández-Escobar ◽  
Rafael Calero-Bernal ◽  
Javier Regidor-Cerrillo ◽  
Raquel Vallejo ◽  
Julio Benavides ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Small Ruminants ◽  
Parasite Burden ◽  
Target Cells ◽  
Post Inoculation ◽  
Type Ii ◽  
High Genetic Diversity

AbstractToxoplasma gondii is an important zoonotic agent with high genetic diversity, complex epidemiology, and variable clinical outcomes in animals and humans. In veterinary medicine, this apicomplexan parasite is considered one of the main infectious agents responsible for reproductive failure in small ruminants worldwide. The aim of this study was to phenotypically characterize 10 Spanish T. gondii isolates recently obtained from sheep in a normalized mouse model and in an ovine trophoblast cell line (AH-1) as infection target cells. The panel of isolates met selection criteria regarding such parameters as genetic diversity [types II (ToxoDB #1 and #3) and III (#2)], geographical location, and sample of origin (aborted foetal brain tissues or adult sheep myocardium). Evaluations of in vivo mortality, morbidity, parasite burden and histopathology were performed. Important variations between isolates were observed, although all isolates were classified as “nonvirulent” (< 30% cumulative mortality). The isolates TgShSp16 (#3) and TgShSp24 (#2) presented higher degrees of virulence. Significant differences were found in terms of in vitro invasion rates and tachyzoite yield at 72 h post-inoculation (hpi) between TgShSp1 and TgShSp24 isolates, which exhibited the lowest and highest rates, respectively. The study of the CS3, ROP18 and ROP5 loci allelic profiles revealed only type III alleles in ToxoDB #2 isolates and type II alleles in the #1 and #3 isolates included. We concluded that there are relevant intra- and inter-genotype virulence differences in Spanish T. gondii isolates, which could not be inferred by genetic characterization using currently described molecular markers.

Anti-parasitic activity of Annona muricata L. leaf ethanolic extract and its fractions against Toxoplasma gondii in vitro and in vivo

2021 ◽  
pp. 114019
Author(s):  
Natália Carnevalli Miranda ◽  
Ester Cristina Borges Araujo ◽  
Allisson Benatti Justino ◽  
Yusmaris Cariaco ◽  
Caroline Martins Mota ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Ethanolic Extract ◽  
Annona Muricata ◽  
Parasitic Activity

scholarly journals Effect of Coxsackievirus B4 Infection on the Thymus: Elucidating Its Role in the Pathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1177
Author(s):  
Abdulaziz Alhazmi ◽  
Magloire Pandoua Nekoua ◽  
Hélène Michaux ◽  
Famara Sane ◽  
Aymen Halouani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Type 1 Diabetes ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
Lymphoid Organ ◽  
Thymic Epithelial Cells ◽  
Central Tolerance ◽  
Coxsackievirus B4

The thymus gland is a primary lymphoid organ for T-cell development. Various viral infections can result in disturbance of thymic functions. Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) are important for the negative selection of self-reactive T-cells to ensure central tolerance. Insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) is the dominant self-peptide of the insulin family expressed in mTECs and plays a crucial role in the intra-thymic programing of central tolerance to insulin-secreting islet β-cells. Coxsackievirus B4 (CVB4) can infect and persist in the thymus of humans and mice, thus hampering the T-cell maturation and differentiation process. The modulation of IGF2 expression and protein synthesis during a CVB4 infection has been observed in vitro and in vivo in mouse models. The effect of CVB4 infections on human and mouse fetal thymus has been studied in vitro. Moreover, following the inoculation of CVB4 in pregnant mice, the thymic function in the fetus and offspring was disturbed. A defect in the intra-thymic expression of self-peptides by mTECs may be triggered by CVB4. The effects of viral infections, especially CVB4 infection, on thymic cells and functions and their possible role in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes (T1D) are presented.

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