Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Li, Zhongzhen
• Lei, Zhiwei
• Yang, Wanying
• Jing, Chunxia
• Sun, Xiaolin
• Yang, Guang
• Zhao, Xiaozhen
• Zhang, Mingjiao
• Xu, Miaomiao
• Tang, Yuanjia
• Wang, Qingwen
• Zhao, Jing
• Zhou, Zixing
• Wen, Zihao
• Chen, Xiaojing
• Peng, Qinglin
• Wang, Guochun
• Zhang, Pingjing
• Sun, Erwei
• Shen, Nan
• Xu, Weiguo
• Li, Zhanguo
• Yang, Hengwen
• Yin, Zhinan

Titel

Anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies as a risk factor for the prevalence and severity of systemic lupus erythematosus

Ist Teil von

• Parasites & vectors, 2024-01, Vol.17 (1), p.44-8, Article 44

Ort / Verlag

England: BioMed Central Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex systemic autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of numerous autoantibodies. The interaction of infectious agents (viruses, bacteria and parasites) and a genetically susceptible host may be a key mechanism for SLE. Toxoplasma gondii is a widespread intracellular parasite that has been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. However, the relationship between T. gondii infection and the increased risk of SLE in Chinese populations remains unclear. The seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was assessed in 1771 serum samples collected from Chinese individuals (908 healthy controls and 863 SLE patients) from different regions of China using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum autoantibodies and clinical information were obtained and analysed. Our observations revealed a higher prevalence of anti-T. gondii antibodies (ATxA) immunoglobulin G (IgG) in serum samples from SLE patients (144/863, 16.7%) than in those from the healthy controls (53/917, 5.8%; P < 0.0001), indicating a 2.48-fold increased risk of SLE in the ATxA-IgG population, after adjustment for age and sex (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.70-3.62, P < 0.0001). ATxA-IgG SLE patients also showed a 1.75-fold higher risk of developing moderate and severe lupus symptoms (95% CI 1.14-2.70, P = 0.011) compared to ATxA-IgG patients. Relative to ATxA-IgG patients, ATxA-IgG patients were more likely to develop specific clinical symptoms, including discoid rash, oral ulcer, myalgia and alopecia. Seven antibodies, namely anti-ribosomal RNA protein (rRNP), anti-double stranded DNA (dsDNA), anti-cell membrane DNA (cmDNA), anti-scleroderma-70 (Scl-70), anti-cardiolipin (CL), anti-beta2-glycoprotein-I (B2GPI) and rheumatoid factor (RF), occurred more frequently in ATxA-IgG patients. When combined with anti-dsDNA and RF/anti-rRNP/anti-cmDNA/ESR, ATxA-IgG significantly increased the risk for severe lupus. Our results suggest that ATxA-IgG may be a significant risk factor for SLE prevalence and severity in Chinese populations.