The presence of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies in 50 donors and recipients of renal transplants

Background: Toxoplasmosis is one of the prevalent parasitic diseases in the world with 10-40 percent of people having it as a latent infection. In cases of renal transplants, the condition either presents itself as a result of reactivation of the latent infection resulting in the weakness of immune system in a recipient or happens when a recipient simply contracts the condition from the donor through the organ transplant. The study examines IgM and IgG anti–toxoplasma antibodies in donors before the allograft and in recipients before and after the allograft.

Methods: For the purpose of this semi-experimental study, sera were collected twice from 50 donors and recipients, before the renal transplant and one month after it. The sera were examined by Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) technique for detection of IgM and IgG antibodies. The data were then analyzed using standard deviation and T-test.

Results: The results revealed positive for IgG and IgM for 36% and 2% of the donors respectively. 52% of the recipients were proved IgG+ and 2% IgM+ before the allograft. In 54% of the recipients IgG antibodies was found after the allograft. 6% showed IgM anti- Toxoplasma in their sera after the allograft. Seroconversion in recipients before and after the allograft showed that the average increase in IgG in sera of recipients before the allograft was statistically significant (P <0.001).

Conclusion: Based on the results, IgG and IgM anti-Toxoplasma antibodies were present in the sera of donors before and recipients before and after the renal transplant. The existence of IgG anti-Toxoplasma in donors is not significant in terms of transmission. Yet its presence in recipients, in particular, as seroconversion may reflect latent toxoplasma-reactivaion. On the other hand, the presence of IgM in donors and recipients reveals a recent toxoplasmic involvement. It appears that immunosuppressive treatments result in reactivating latent tissue cysts and turning them into active toxoplasmosis.