Toxoplasma gondii is an apicomplexan parasite that infects human and almost all warm-blooded animals. The life cycle of the parasite includes an asexual reproduction in intermediate hosts (Mammals and birds) and a sexual reproduction in definitive hosts (Felidae). Cats are both the intermediate and the definitive host for T. gondii. The aim of this study was to investigate anti-T. gondii antibo...

Serologic detection of Toxoplasma gondii IgG antibodies is widely accepted as a means to determine immune status and susceptibility to Toxoplasma infection during pregnancy. However, current commercial kits present some drawbacks, such as a requirement for whole-parasite antigen preparation or interassay variability. To address these problems, the purpose of this study was to produce a whole se...

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection among the residents of Seokmo-do (Island) in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, Korea was surveyed for 4 years by a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) using recombinant fragment of major surface antigen (SAG1), GST-linker-SAG1A. Sera from 312, 343, 390, and 362 adult residents were collected on a yearly basis from 2010 to 2013, respectively. Total positive seroprevalen...

Cryptosporidium parvum is a waterborne enteric coccidian that causes diarrheal disease in a wide range of hosts. Development of successful therapies is hampered by the inability to culture the parasite and the lack of a transfection system for genetic manipulation. The glycoprotein products of the Cpgp40/15 gene, gp40 and gp15, are involved in C. parvum sporozoite attachment to and invasion of ...

Toxoplasmosis is a major public health problem and the development of a human vaccine is of high priority. Efficient vaccination against Toxoplasma gondii requires both a mucosal and systemic Th1 immune response. Moreover, dendritic cells play a critical role in orchestrating the innate immune functions and driving specific adaptive immunity to T. gondii. In this study, we explore an original v...

INTRODUCTION Infection with the ubiquitous parasite Toxoplasma gondii is a threat for immunocompromised patients and pregnant women and effective immune-prophylaxis is still lacking. METHODS Here we tested a mixture of recombinant T. gondii antigens expressed in different developmental stages, i.e., SAG1, MAG1 and GRA7 (SMG), and a lysate derived from T. gondii tachyzoites (TLA) for prophylac...