Determination of Toxoplasmosis Disease Activity by Estimation of IL-6 Cytokine

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle and Manceaux ) infects all warm-blooded animals,
including humans. Early diagnosis and determining the infective stage are critical for
treating immunosuppressed individuals and pregnant women with toxoplasmosis.
This parasite modulates pro- and anti-inflammatory responses to regulate parasite
multiplication and host survival. The aim of this study was to investigate the
probability of using IL-6 as a marker of toxoplasmosis disease activity (acute and
chronic) in different groups of women (miscarriage, pregnant and single) and estimate
the relationship between infection and gestational age and history of abortion in
miscarriage and pregnant women. The most abortion were occurred at the first
trimester in chronic infected miscarriage women also, the most abortion were
occurred at the first trimester in acute infected pregnant women. The result showed
that acute infected miscarriage women with previously abortion scored high
significant percentage of infection in comparison to non- abortifacient, chronic
infected one and pregnant women. IL-6 was significantly higher in acute infected
miscarriage women in comparison to single and pregnant acute one but chronic
infected pregnant women characterized by the lowest level of this cytokine in
comparison to all studied groups.