{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T07:57:48Z","timestamp":1790668668243,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,15]],"date-time":"2021-02-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1613347200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100015621","name":"Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100015621","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Congenital toxoplasmosis has a high impact on human disease worldwide, inducing serious consequences from fetus to adulthood. Despite this, there are currently no human vaccines available to prevent this infection. Most vaccination studies against\u00a0<jats:italic>Toxoplasma gondii\u00a0<\/jats:italic>infection used animal models in which the infection was established by exogenous inoculation. Here, we review recent research on potential\u00a0<jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic>\u00a0vaccines using animal models in which infection was congenitally established. Endeavors in this field have so far revealed that live or subunit vaccines previously found to confer protection against extrinsically established infections can also protect, at least partially, from vertically transmitted infection. Nevertheless, there is no consensus on the more adequate immune response to protect the host and the fetus in congenital infection. Most of the vaccination studies rely on the assessment of maternal systemic immune responses, quantification of parasitic loads in the fetuses, and survival indexes and\/or brain parasitic burden in the neonates. More research must be carried out not only to explore new vaccines but also to further study the nature of the elicited immune protection at the maternal-fetal interface. Particularly, the cellular and molecular effector mechanisms at the maternal-fetal interface induced by immunization remain poorly characterized. Deeper knowledge on the immune response at this specific location will certainly help to refine the vaccine-induced immunity and, consequently, to provide the most effective and safest protection against\u00a0<jats:italic>T. gondii\u00a0<\/jats:italic>vertical infection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2020.621997","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,15]],"date-time":"2021-02-15T17:08:52Z","timestamp":1613408932000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Vaccines in Congenital Toxoplasmosis: Advances and Perspectives"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Mariana","family":"Barros","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniela","family":"Teixeira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manuel","family":"Vilanova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alexandra","family":"Correia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Natercia","family":"Teixeira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Margarida","family":"Borges","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pmed.1001920","article-title":"World Health Organization Estimates of the Global and Regional Disease Burden of 11 Foodborne Parasitic Diseases, 2010: A Data Synthesis","volume":"12","author":"Torgerson","year":"2015","journal-title":"PLoS Med"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2471\/blt.12.111732","article-title":"The global burden of congenital toxoplasmosis: a systematic review","volume":"91","author":"Torgerson","year":"2013","journal-title":"Bull World Health Organ"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0008103","article-title":"The global seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in women who had spontaneous abortion: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"14","author":"Nayeri","year":"2020","journal-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"387","DOI":"10.1128\/mmbr.00027-15","article-title":"Long-Term Relationships: the Complicated Interplay between the Host and the Developmental Stages of Toxoplasma gondii during Acute and Chronic Infections","volume":"79","author":"Pittman","year":"2015","journal-title":"Microbiol Mol Biol Rev"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/jpids\/piu077","article-title":"Congenital Toxoplasmosis","author":"McAuley","year":"2014","journal-title":"J Pediatr Infect Dis Soc"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/595793","article-title":"Congenital toxoplasmosis and reinfection during pregnancy: case report, strain characterization, experimental model of reinfection, and review","volume":"199","author":"Elbez-Rubinstein","year":"2009","journal-title":"J Infect Dis"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/pim.12606","article-title":"How does toxoplasmosis affect the maternal-foetal immune interface and pregnancy","volume":"41","author":"Borges","year":"2019","journal-title":"Parasite Immunol"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/s0031182016001785","article-title":"Impaired health status and increased incidence of diseases in Toxoplasma-seropositive subjects - an explorative cross-sectional study","volume":"143","author":"Flegr","year":"2016","journal-title":"Parasitology"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/acps.12423","article-title":"Beyond the association. 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