Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40637955›Full record

ArticleAMB Express2025

Comparative evaluation of live attenuated and killed tachyzoites as vaccine candidates for toxoplasmosis.

Eman E El Shanawany, Eman H Abdel-Rahman, Waleed A Nemr, Soad E Hassan, Noha M F Hassan, Hassan M Desouky, Rabab Zalat, Amany Ebrahim Nofal, Raafat M Shaapan, Salwa Sami Younis

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Article in AMB Express, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. ROP64-DeficientMicroorganisms · 2026
    Article
  2. Advances and Translational Challenges inVeterinary sciences · 2026
    Review
  3. Veterinary sciences · 2026
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Eman E El ShanawanyParasitology and Animal Diseases Department, Veterinary Research Institute, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt. ee.el-shanawany@nrc.sci.eg.
Eman H Abdel-RahmanParasitology and Animal Diseases Department, Veterinary Research Institute, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.
Waleed A NemrDepartment of Radiation Microbiology, National Center for Radiation Research and Technology, Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, Egypt.
Soad E HassanParasitology and Animal Diseases Department, Veterinary Research Institute, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.
Noha M F HassanParasitology and Animal Diseases Department, Veterinary Research Institute, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.
Hassan M DesoukyAnimal Reproduction and Artificial Insemination Department, National Research Centre, Dokki- Giza, Egypt.
Rabab ZalatDepartment of Parasitology, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Giza, Egypt.
Amany Ebrahim NofalZoology Department, Faculty of Science, Histology and Histochemistry, Menoufia University, Shibin El-Kom, Egypt.
Raafat M ShaapanDepartment of Zoonosis, Veterinary Research Division, National Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.
Salwa Sami YounisMedical Parasitology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii (T.gondii) an obligate intracellular protozoan, causes toxoplasmosis, leading to significant economic losses and posing serious public health challenges worldwide. Developing an effective vaccine for toxoplasmosis in humans remains difficult. In this study, we evaluated the protective immunity of tachyzoites local virulent strain exposed to 0.25 KGy as a live attenuated vaccine and 1.5 KGy as a killed vaccine. Swiss albino mice were immunized with three doses of each vaccine at 2-week intervals. Four weeks after the final immunization, mice were challenged with 2500 tachyzoites of RH HXGPRT (–) strain. Mice immunized with live attenuated vaccine showed a significant p < 0.05 increase in survival time (67.778 ± 26.4 days) compared to a control group, mice group immunized with killed tachyzoites, and the group injected with adjuvant. In the live attenuated vaccinated group, the mice percentage that still survived along six months of follow-up was 57.1% without any signs of acute toxoplasmosis. The infection reduction percentage was significantly higher (99.8%) in the live attenuated vaccine group, with the complete absence of tachyzoites in liver impression smears. Our results demonstrated that live attenuated vaccine triggered a strong immune response, marked by significantly elevated levels of IFN-γ, IL-12, and IL-17 cytokines, and increased percentages of CD4 + and CD8+ T-lymphocytes. High levels of Toxoplasma-specific IgG were maintained. Histopathological analysis showed a complete absence of the parasite in the liver and spleen of mice vaccinated with live attenuated vaccine, with hepatic cells appearing normal and moderate aggregations of inflammatory cells observed in the hepatic portal area. In conclusion, the comparison between the use of killed and live attenuated tachyzoites proved that the use of live gamma-irradiated attenuated tachyzoites is effective in eliciting cellular and humoral immune responses against acute toxoplasmosis in mice, presenting potential candidate prepared by conventional approach for the development of a vaccine against toxoplasmosis. The sheep isolate strain used in our study represents a virulent strain with characteristics similar to those that circulate in natural populations, which makes it an appropriate candidate for vaccine development in livestock and then for humans.

Indexed as

Acute toxoplasmosisGamma irradiationLive attenuated tachhyzoitesMiceToxoplasma gondiiVaccine

Identifiers

PMID40637955
PMCPMC12246356

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.