Latent Toxoplasma gondii Infection Does Not Modulate Immune Aging in a Cross-Sectional Working-Age Population Study

Latent, i.e., asymptomatic <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> (<i>T. gondii</i>) infection might accelerate or modulate the aging process of cognitive and sensory functions involving pro-inflammatory immune responses. For evaluating a potential role of latent <i>T. gondii</i> infection in immunological aging, we determined <i>T. gondii</i> antibody levels and immunosenescence biomarkers in a cross-sectional sample of 584 volunteers aged 20-70 years from the Dortmund Vital Study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT05155397) representing the regional population. One-hundred-sixty-one participants were seropositive, representing an overall 28% latent <i>T. gondii</i> seroprevalence, which did not significantly differ between males and females, but increased with age. Consequently, seropositive individuals were older than the seronegative participants. Latent <i>T. gondii</i> infection exhibited significant bivariate associations with the composite immune age index IMMAX pointing to accelerated immune aging in seropositive individuals. In addition, IMMAX increased with age and in males. However, associations of latent <i>T. gondii</i> infection with immunosenescence biomarkers disappeared when adjusting the analyses for sex and age. Moreover, the non-significant interaction between <i>T. gondii</i> status and age when predicting biomarker levels indicated that latent <i>T. gondii</i> infection did not modify the immunosenescence trend. Summarized, our results suggest that latent <i>T. gondii</i> infection is unlikely to modulate immune aging concerning cellular senescence in otherwise healthy working-age adults.