Association between Toxoplasma gondii Infection and Multiple Sclerosis

Backgrounds: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Toxoplasma gondii infection is one of the risk factors of MS. Knowing the correlation between T. gondii infection and MS could lead to a better understanding of the disease incidence. This study aimed to assess the correlation between T. gondii infection and the disease incidence in infected individuals. Materials & Methods: Serum samples of ۳۸ MS patients referring to the neurology clinic of Ghaem hospital in Mashhad in ۲۰۱۹ were analyzed by Pishtazteb commercial kit for anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The obtained data were analyzed with SPSS software Version ۲۰. Findings: Among the ۷۹ tested individuals, ۲۲ were positive, and ۵۷ were negative for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies. Among the negative cases, ۲۹ (۵۰.۹%) had MS, and ۲۸ (۴۹.۱%) were controls. Among the positive cases, nine (۴۰.۹%) patients had MS, and the remaining ۱۳ (۵۹.۱%) were controls. The frequency of IgG antibody in the case and control groups was not significantly different (p= .۴۲۷). Anti-T. gondii IgM antibody was negative in all samples. There was no significant difference between the types of MS regarding the frequency of anti-T. gondii antibodies (p= .۴۰۲). Conclusion:  No significant difference was found in the frequency of anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies between the two groups. However, further studies with larger sample sizes are recommended to gain a better understanding of the relationship between anti-T. gondii IgG antibody positivity and MS incidence

Keywords:

Multiple sclerosis , Toxoplasma gondii , Parasite , ELISA Immunity