Affiliation:
1. University of South Florida, College of Nursing Tampa Florida USA
2. University of South Florida, Morsani College of Medicine Tampa Florida USA
3. University of Tennessee, College of Nursing Knoxville Tennessee USA
4. Department of Psychiatry University of Maryland School of Medicine Baltimore Maryland USA
5. Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Suicide Prevention Aurora Colorado USA
6. VISN 5 MIRECC Baltimore Maryland USA
7. Institute of Medical Biochemistry Medical University of Innsbruck Austria
8. Institute of Biological Chemistry Medical University of Innsbruck Austria
Abstract
AbstractProblemPregnancy markedly modifies women's metabolism and immune functions. We hypothesized that pregnancy might alter the immune and metabolic responses to chronic Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnancy.Method of studyA population of 690 pregnant Hispanic women were screened for antibodies to T. gondii and 158 women were positive (23% positivity) with 83% showing high avidity indices. These seropositive women were followed through their pregnancies with four data collection time points and a postpartum collection at two clinics in Tampa, Florida. A T. gondii seronegative group (N = 128) was randomly selected to serve as a control group and measured along pregnancy in the same way. Serum levels of tryptophan, kynurenine, and their ratio, phenylalanine, tyrosine and their ratio, neopterin, and nitrite were measured through pregnancy and the postpartum. A plasma cytokine panel (IFN‐γ, TNFα, IL‐2, IL‐10, IL‐12, IL‐6, IL‐17) was analyzed in parallel.ResultsThe major findings suggest that indoleamine 2,3‐dioxygenase (IDO‐1) was less activated in T. gondii seropositive pregnant Hispanic women with chronic infection. Evidence for IDO‐1 suppression was that tryptophan catabolism was less pronounced and there were lower levels of multiple inflammatory cytokines including IFN‐γ, which is the major inducer of IDO‐1, and higher nitrite concentration, a surrogate marker for nitric oxide, an inhibitor of IDO.ConclusionsLatent T. gondii infection was associated with higher plasma tryptophan levels, and lower inflammatory cytokines across pregnancy, suggesting suppression of the IDO‐1 enzyme, and possible T cell exhaustion during pregnancy.
Subject
Obstetrics and Gynecology,Reproductive Medicine,Immunology,Immunology and Allergy,Obstetrics and Gynecology,Immunology
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1 articles.
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