{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T09:27:09Z","timestamp":1786613229869,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786579200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["82460402"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82460402"]}],"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":["81960378"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["81960378"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["82460402"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82460402"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["81960378"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["81960378"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Cysticercosis, caused by the larval stage of Taenia solium (Cysticercus cellulosae), is a neglected tropical disease threatening public health. Thioredoxin peroxidase (TPx) is a key antioxidant protein secreted by the parasite, but its role in macrophage polarization remains unclear. In this study, THP-1-derived macrophages were treated with TPx protein for 24 h and 48 h. Flow cytometry, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and Western blot were employed to assess reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, M1\/M2 cell proportions, mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-\u03b1) and interleukin-10 (IL-10), and protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and arginase-1 (Arg-1). Transcriptome sequencing was performed to screen for signaling pathways, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was subsequently used to measure cGMP levels. The PKG inhibitor KT-5823 was used for functional validation. The results show that TPx significantly increased the proportion of M1 macrophages from 4.58% to 9.24% at 24 h, and promoted M2 macrophages from 4.12% to 6.87% at 48 h, while ROS levels decreased to 0.80-fold at 48 h (p &lt; 0.05). RT-qPCR revealed that TPx markedly upregulated TNF-\u03b1 (1.62-fold) at 24 h and IL-10 (1.52-fold) at 48 h (p &lt; 0.05). Western blot showed that TPx increased iNOS expression by 2.55-fold at 24 h and Arg-1 expression by 2.01-fold at 48 h. KEGG analysis revealed upregulation of the cGMP-PKG pathway at 48 h, with notably increased cGMP content (1.48-fold) and PKG expression (1.86-fold) (p &lt; 0.05). Furthermore, KT-5823 pretreatment effectively reversed TPx-induced Arg-1 upregulation (from 1.66-fold to 1.02-fold, p &lt; 0.05). These findings demonstrate that Cysticercus cellulosae TPx induces M1 polarization at 24 h and promotes M2 polarization at 48 h through activation of the cGMP-PKG signaling pathway, thereby facilitating immune evasion.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens15080843","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T08:06:16Z","timestamp":1786608376000},"page":"843","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["TPx Protein of Cysticercus\u00a0cellulosae Regulates Macrophage M2 Polarization via the cGMP-PKG Signaling Pathway"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-3554-6903","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Haiting","family":"Xiong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xue","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haojun","family":"Cai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qianqian","family":"Mu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3297-2344","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Biying","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e179","DOI":"10.1017\/S0022149X20000619","article-title":"Seroepidemiological evidence for Taenia solium taeniasis\/cysticercosis in three venezuelan rural communities","volume":"94","author":"Cortez","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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