Chronic Toxoplasma gondii infection curtails the cytotoxic potential of acute T cell responses to West Nile virus in the brain.

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), a common brain-tropic parasite, chronically infects the central nervous system (CNS) of up to a third of the worlds population. Constant immune surveillance interrupts cyst reactivation within the CNS and dramatically alters the immune landscape of the brain. West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne infection with a clinical spectrum ranging from asymptomatic to mild flu-like symptoms to severe neuroinvasive disease. In a cohort of WNV infected people, we discovered a positive correlation between WNV disease severity and T. gondii seropositivity. In a mouse model pairing chronic T. gondii with acute WNV infection, we found an increased susceptibility of mice to WNV, with reduced granzyme B expression in WNV-specific T cells and increased regulatory T cell (Treg) numbers in the brain, but not the periphery. This demonstrates that the T. gondii-infected tissue microenvironment impairs immune defense against other brain infections by blunting local T cell responses.