Chronic <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> infection enhances susceptibility to colitis
Iti Saraav, Luisa Cervantes‐Barragán, Philipp Olias, Yong Fu, Qiuling Wang, Leran Wang, Yi Wang, Matthias Mack, Megan T. Baldridge, Thaddeus S. Stappenbeck, Marco Colonna, L. David Sibley
Abstract
Significance We examined the long-term consequences of oral infection with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii on a model for inflammatory bowel disease caused by chemical injury of the intestinal mucosa. Despite the fact that the parasite no longer persists in the mucosal tissue, chronic infection altered the function of monocytes that emerge from the bone marrow in a preactivated state and home to sites of inflammation. The heightened inflammatory responses by infiltrating monocytes worsened the severity of tissue damage caused by chemical injury and also blunted the wound healing responses in the gut. Our findings illustrate how chronic subclinical infections can have lasting impacts on environmental triggers of inflammation.