{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,23]],"date-time":"2026-05-23T06:07:11Z","timestamp":1779516431007,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,22]],"date-time":"2026-05-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779408000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":141,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,1]],"date-time":"2026-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767225600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["82072304"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82072304"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["81871671"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["81871671"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Transboundary and Emerging Diseases"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Toxoplasmosis is a globally significant infectious disease, affecting approximately one\u2010third of the world\u2019s population. Ocular toxoplasmosis (OT) is a major and vision\u2010threatening clinical manifestation. However, its pathogenesis remains elusive, and effective targeted therapies are unavailable. This study demonstrates that\n                    <jats:italic>Toxoplasma gondii<\/jats:italic>\n                    infection induces epithelial\u2010mesenchymal transition (EMT)\u2010like changes in both human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells (ARPE\u201019) and murine ocular tissues. Mechanistic investigations, employing rhoptry protein 16 (ROP16) knockout parasites and ROP16 overexpression models, revealed that the parasite\u2010derived protein ROP16 promotes EMT\u2010like changes by activating the host signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and transforming growth factor \u03b21 (TGF\u2010\u03b21) signaling pathway. Furthermore, pharmacological inhibition of STAT3 or TGF\u2010\u03b21 significantly attenuated EMT\u2010like changes in vitro and ameliorated OT pathology in mice. In summary, our findings identify the ROP16\u2010STAT3 and TGF\u2010\u03b21 pathways as a key regulatory pathway in OT pathogenesis, providing novel insights into the disease mechanism and suggesting STAT3 and TGF\u2010\u03b21 inhibitors as promising therapeutic candidates.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1155\/tbed\/9126072","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,23]],"date-time":"2026-05-23T05:42:27Z","timestamp":1779514947000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["ROP16 Promotes Epithelial\u2010Mesenchymal Transition\u2010Like Changes in Ocular Toxoplasmosis via STAT3 and TGF\u2010\u03b21 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