ArticleBiology letters2012
Incidence of adult brain cancers is higher in countries where the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is common.
Article in Biology letters, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 112 citations in OpenAlex.
- Is Toxoplasma Gondii Infection a Risk Factor for Leukemia? An Evidence-Based Meta-Analysis.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2016Pooled it
- The Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in Chinese Population With Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Medicine · 2015Pooled it
- Glancing at the role of Toxoplasma gondii in neuro-oncology: from risk factor to therapeutic target.Infectious agents and cancer · 2026Review
- Exploring the Causal Links Between Toxoplasma gondii Infection and Risk of Brain Tumors: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Analysis.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Seroprevalence and risk factors for Toxoplasma gondii infection in women with breast tumors in Eastern China.American journal of translational research · 2026Article
- From pathogen to cure: exploring the antitumor potential of Toxoplasma gondii.Infectious agents and cancer · 2025Review
- The opposing effect of acute and chronic Toxoplasma gondii infection on tumor development.Parasites & vectors · 2024Article
- AdvancingMicrobiology spectrum · 2024Article
- Risk Factors Associated withMicroorganisms · 2024Article
- Genetic diversity and seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in COVID‑19 patients; a first case-control study in Iran.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Review
- Article
- Dense granule protein 3 ofFrontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Exosomal miRNA-21 from Toxoplasma gondii-infected microglial cells induces the growth of U87 glioma cells by inhibiting tumor suppressor genes.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Global MicroRNAs Expression Profile Analysis Reveals Possible Regulatory Mechanisms of Brain Injury Induced byFrontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Seroprevalence ofPeerJ · 2022Article
- Comprehensive Overview ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Toxoplasmosis is a risk factor for acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection and a severe course of COVID-19 in the Czech and Slovak population: a preregistered exploratory internet cross-sectional study.Parasites & vectors · 2021Article
- A pathway to cure chronic infection with Toxoplasma gondii through immunological intervention.Parasitology international · 2021Review
- Microbiome in human cancers.Access microbiology · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We explored associations between the common protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii and brain cancers in human populations. We predicted that T. gondii could increase the risk of brain cancer because it is a long-lived parasite that encysts in the brain, where it provokes inflammation and inhibits apoptosis. We used a medical geography approach based on the national incidence of brain cancers and seroprevalence of T. gondii. We corrected reports of incidence for national gross domestic product because wealth probably increases the ability to detect cancer. We also included gender, cell phone use and latitude as variables in our initial models. Prevalence of T. gondii explained 19 per cent of the residual variance in brain cancer incidence after controlling for the positive effects of gross domestic product and latitude among nations. Infection with T. gondii was associated with a 1.8-fold increase in the risk of brain cancers across the range of T. gondii prevalence in our dataset (4-67%). These results, though correlational, suggest that T. gondii should be investigated further as a possible oncogenic pathogen of humans.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.