Abstract

Congenital toxoplasmosis is represented by the transplacental passage of Toxoplasma gondii from the mother to the fetus. Our studies demonstrated that T. gondii developed mechanisms to evade of the host immune response, such as cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) induction, and these mediators can be produced/stored in lipid droplets (LDs). The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of COX-2 and LDs during T. gondii infection in human trophoblast cells and villous explants. Our data demonstrated that COX-2 inhibitors decreased T. gondii replication in trophoblast cells and villous. In BeWo cells, the COX-2 inhibitors induced an increase of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and MIF), and a decrease in anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-4 and IL-10). In HTR-8/SVneo cells, the COX-2 inhibitors induced an increase of IL-6 and nitrite and decreased IL-4 and TGF-β1. In villous explants, the COX-2 inhibitors increased MIF and decreased TNF-α and IL-10. Furthermore, T. gondii induced an increase in LDs in BeWo and HTR-8/SVneo, but COX-2 inhibitors reduced LDs in both cells type. We highlighted that COX-2 is a key factor to T. gondii proliferation in human trophoblast cells, since its inhibition induced a pro-inflammatory response capable of controlling parasitism and leading to a decrease in the availability of LDs, which are essentials for parasite growth.

Details

Title
Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 modulates Toxoplasma gondii infection, immune response and lipid droplets formation in human trophoblast cells and villous explants
Author
de Souza Guilherme 1 ; Silva, Rafaela José 1 ; Milián Iliana Claudia Balga 1 ; Rosini, Alessandra Monteiro 1 ; de Araújo Thádia Evelyn 1 ; Teixeira, Samuel Cota 1 ; Oliveira, Mário Cézar 2 ; Silva, Franco Priscila 1 ; da Silva Claudio Vieira 3 ; Mineo, José Roberto 4 ; Silva, Neide Maria 2 ; Ferro Eloisa Amália Vieira 1 ; Barbosa, Bellisa Freitas 1 

 Federal University of Uberlândia, Laboratory of Immunophysiology of Reproduction, Institute of Biomedical Science, Uberlândia, Brazil (GRID:grid.411284.a) (ISNI:0000 0004 4647 6936) 
 Federal University of Uberlândia, Laboratory of Immunopathology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Uberlândia, Brazil (GRID:grid.411284.a) (ISNI:0000 0004 4647 6936) 
 Federal University of Uberlândia, Laboratory of Trypanosomatids, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Uberlândia, Brazil (GRID:grid.411284.a) (ISNI:0000 0004 4647 6936) 
 Federal University of Uberlândia, Laboratory of Immunoparasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Uberlândia, Brazil (GRID:grid.411284.a) (ISNI:0000 0004 4647 6936) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2541556177
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.