IIBBA   05544
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES BIOQUIMICAS DE BUENOS AIRES
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Vertical Toxoplasmosis in a Murine Model. Protection after Immunization with the serine protease inhibitor-1 of Toxoplasma gondii
Autor/es:
PICCHIO, MARIANO; SÁNCHEZ, VANESA; FENOY, IGNACIO; ARCÓN, NADIA; SOTO, ARIADNA; URRUTIA, MARIELA; GOLDMAN, ALEJANDRA; MARTIN, VALENTINA
Lugar:
Mar del Plata
Reunión:
Congreso; X Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de Protozoología; 2014
Resumen:
Primary Toxoplasma gondii infection during pregnancy can cause severe damage to the fetus as a result of congenital transmission in humans and abortion and loss of offspring in farm animals. The fact that infection before pregnancy normally results in immunity able to protect the fetus, suggests the possibility of blocking parasite vertical transmission by an appropriate vaccine. We have previously shown that the T. gondii serine protease inhibitor-1 (TgPI-1) induced a protective immune response against parasite infection in both C3H/HeN and C57BL/6 mice. In the present work, we evaluated its protective capacity to prevent parasite vertical transmission in BALB/c mice. Female mice were immunized with rTgPI-1 (2 doses + alum id plus 2 doses +CpG-ODN in) or left untreated (control group), and then mated with males. Pregnant dams were infected orally on day 12 of gestation, with tissue cysts of T. gondii Me49 strain. Naturally delivered pups from rTgPI-1 vaccinated mice showed a significant increase in the neonatal survival rate on day 30 after birth compared to the control group (71% vs 40%). On the other hand, both groups presented similar rate of dead pups at birth (30% TgPI-1 vs 44% control). In order to evaluate whether TgPI-1 immunization could prevent Toxoplasma-induced fetal resorption, in another experiment the uteri of pregnant mice were removed on day 19/20 of gestation for the documentation of the implantation sites. A similar number of dams experienced abortions in both control and vaccinated groups (57% 50%), but the abortion rate in the control group was significantly higher compared to the vaccinated group (100% vs 17%, p<0.05). In fetus with visible normality, a similar rate of congenital infection was found as analyzed by Nested-PCR (41% vs 38%, vaccinated vs control). These results let us hypothesize that vaccination with rTgPI-1 could decrease the abortion rates and also increase the survival of pups born to dams infected during pregnancy.