Immunologic Lesions During Toxoplasma Gondii Infection

One mechanism of successful parasitism may be the induction of relatively localized, but non-specific, lesions in the mammalian host’s immune response. To investigate this, we have initiated studies of the responses in mice to various antigens during Toxoplasma gondii infection. Experiments reported here indicate that different responses to thymic-independent (TI) and thymic-dependent (TD) antigenic challenges are seen which are consistent with an immunologic lesion or lesions in thymus regulatory pathways. The possibility is raised that the immunologic injury may be an important correlate of microbial infectivity.