Cytokine profile in Bulgarian patients with toxoplasmosis

BACKGROUND: In Bulgaria, toxoplasmosis is one of the most common infections in humans but the mediators of the T-cell immune response have not been studied. This study aimed to follow-up on the cytokine profile in some groups of immunocompetent patients with evidence of acute and chronic toxoplasmosis.METHODS: T. gondii antibodies IgG, IgM, and IgA in the serum samples were measured by ELISA. Cytokine profile was investigated with commercial kit 13-plex ProcartaPlex™, Invitrogen, suitable for apparatus Luminex 200.RESULTS: We examined cytokine profiles and specific Toxoplasma antibodies in 60 immunocompetent patients divided into 3 groups: pregnant women (N.=31), Patients with lymphadenitis, eye pathology, and fever of unknown origin (N.=17), and Persons examined at their request (N.=12). A statistically significant difference was found when comparing levels of cytokines IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-2, IL-27, IL-4, and IP-10 between the group of pregnant women with acute infection and the group of non-infected pregnant women. In the other two groups of patients, we did not find a statistically significant difference in the values of the investigated cytokines.CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate lower levels of cytokines related to both Th1 and Th2 in pregnant women with acute toxoplasmosis. In patients from the other two groups, there is substantial production of the cytokines associated with the Th1 cell subset.