Korean J Parasitol.  2014 Dec;52(6):605-612. 10.3347/kjp.2014.52.6.605.

Prominent IL-12 Production and Tumor Reduction in Athymic Nude Mice after Toxoplasma gondii Lysate Antigen Treatment

• Pyo KH
• Jung BK
• Xin CF
• Lee YW
• Chai JY
• Shin EH

• KMID: 2069810
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2014.52.6.605

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular protozoan parasite that causes a Th1 cellular immunity. Our previous study showed that T. gondii lysate antigen (TLA) treatment in S180 tumor-bearing mice resulted in tumor reduction by suppressing CD31 expression, a marker of angiogenesis. In the present study, to investigate tumor suppressive effect of TLA under the absence of T lymphocytes, athymic nude mice were compared with euthymic mice in the anti-tumorigenic effect triggered by TLA in CT26 tumors. According to the results, intratumorally injected TLA reduced tumor growth and TIMP-1 level, a metastatic marker, in both euthymic and athymic mice. TLA treatment led to a sharp increase in IL-12 expression in serum cytokine profiling of athymic mice, and increased MyD88 signals in macrophages derived from the bone marrow, implying the activation of innate immunity. The selective induction of IL-12 by TLA treatment had an anti-tumorigenic effect.

Keyword

Toxoplasma gondii; athymic mouse; anti-tumorigenesis; IL-12; TIMP-1; MyD88; NF-kappaB

MeSH Terms

Animals
Antigens, Protozoan/*immunology
Disease Models, Animal
Immunity, Innate
Immunotherapy/*methods
Interleukin-12/*blood
Macrophages/immunology
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Mice, Nude
Myeloid Differentiation Factor 88/analysis
Neoplasms/pathology/*therapy
Toxoplasma/*immunology
Treatment Outcome
Antigens, Protozoan
Interleukin-12
Myeloid Differentiation Factor 88