Toxoplasma and Cancer: Friends or Faux? Uncorking the Paradox

Document Type : Review Article

Authors

1 Medical Parasitology Dept., Faculty of Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt

2 Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Sohag university, Egypt

3 Medical Parasitology Department, Faculty of Medicine, sohag university, Egypt

4 Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Assuit University, Egypt

Abstract

Cancer is a life-threatening disease that occurs because of the uncontrolled proliferation of cells in any organ or tissue of the body. Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan that replicates only after host cell invasion. Some studies elucidated that there is a high seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies in various cancer types. T. gondii was linked to several types of malignancies such as leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma, glioma, meningioma, neuroblastoma, breast and ovarian tumours, and lung cancer. On the contrary, other studies reported low titres of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies with a state of resistance to cancer. The current research focuses on the use of the auxotrophic mutant of T. gondii in the treatment of the most aggressive types of cancer: melanoma, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, and ovarian cancer. This review aims to spotlight on how T. gondii can promote cancer, the anti-cancer effects of T. gondii and the possible mechanisms of these effects.

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