Representative Publications
Pathogenesis,genetics, omics, systems biology
Ngô HM, Zhou Y, Lorenzi H, Wang K, Kim TK, Zhou Y, El Bissati K, Mui E, Fraczek L, RajagopalaSV, Roberts CW, Henriquez FL, Montpetit A, Blackwell JM, Jamieson SE, Wheeler K, Begeman IJ, Naranjo-Galvis C, Alliey-Rodriguez N, Davis RG, Soroceanu L, Cobbs C, Steindler DA, Boyer K, Noble AG, Swisher CN, Heydemann PT, Rabiah P, Withers S, Soteropoulos P, Hood L, McLeod R. Toxoplasma Modulates Signature Pathways of Human Epilepsy, Neurodegeneration & Cancer. Sci Rep.(Nature) 2017 Sep 13;7(1):11496. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-10675-6. PMID: 28904337.
Lykins J, Wang K, Wheeler K, Clouser F, Dixon A, El Bissati K, Zhou Y, Lyttle C, Rzhetsky A, McLeod R. Understanding Toxoplasmosis in the United States Through “Large Data” Analyses. Clin Infect Dis. 2016 Aug 15;63(4):468-75. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciw356. Epub 2016 Jun 26. PMID: 27353665.
Hutson SL, Wheeler KM, McLone D, Frim D, Penn R, Swisher CN, Heydemann PT, Boyer KM, Noble AG, Rabiah P, Withers S, Montoya JG, Wroblewski K, Karrison T, Grigg ME, McLeod R. Patterns of Hydrocephalus Caused by Congenital Toxoplasma gondii Infection Associate With Parasite Genetics. Clin Infect Dis. 2015 Dec 15;61(12):1831-4. doi: 10.1093/cid/civ720. Epub 2015 Sep 24. PMID: 26405147.
Witola WH, Mui E, Hargrave A, Liu S, Hypolite M, Montpetit A, Cavailles P, Bisanz C, Cesbron-Delauw MF, Fournié GJ, McLeod R. NALP1 Influences Susceptibility to Human Congenital Toxoplasmosis, Proinflammatory Cytokine Response, and Fate of Toxoplasma gondii-Infected Monocytic Cells. Infection and Immunity. 79(2):756-66, 2011. PMID: 21098108. PMCID: PMC3028851.
Lees MP, Fuller SJ, McLeod R, Boulter NR, Miller CM, Zakrzewski AM, Mui EJ, Witola WH, Coyne JJ, Hargrave AC, Jamieson SE, Blackwell JM, Wiley JS, Smith NC. P2X7 receptor-mediated killing of an intracellular parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, by human and murine macrophages. J Immunol 184(12):7040-6. Epub 2010 May. PMID: 20488797. PMCID: PMC2931343.
Hermes G, Ajioka JW, Kelly KA, Mui E, Roberts F, Kasza K, Mayr T, Kirisits MJ, Wollmann R, Ferguson DJ, Roberts CW, Hwang JH, Trendler T, Kennan RP, Suzuki Y, Reardon C, Hickey WF, Chen L, McLeod R. Neurological and behavioral abnormalities, ventricular dilatation, altered cellular functions, inflammation, and neuronal injury in brains of mice due to common, persistent, parasitic infection. J Neuroinflammation. 2008;5:48. doi: 10.1186/1742-2094-5-48. PubMed PMID: 18947414; PMCID: PMC2588578.
Clinical Care
McLone D, Frim D, Penn R, Swisher CN, Heydemann P, Boyer KM, Noble AG, Rabiah PK, Withers S, Wroblewski K, Karrison T, Hutson S, Wheeler K, Cohen W, Lykins J, McLeod R. Outcomes of hydrocephalus secondary to congenital toxoplasmosis. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2019 Sep 6:1-8. doi: 10.3171/2019.6.PEDS18684. PMID: 31491752.
Aguirre AA, Longcore T, Barbieri M, Dabritz H, Hill D, Klein PN, Lepczyk C, Lilly EL, McLeod R, Milcarsky J, Murphy CE, Su C, VanWormer E, Yolken R, Sizemore GC. Correction to: The One Health Approach to Toxoplasmosis: Epidemiology, Control, and Prevention Strategies. Ecohealth. 2019 Jun;16(2):391. doi: 10.1007/s10393-019-01420-8. PMID: 31168721.
Aguirre AA, Longcore T, Barbieri M, Dabritz H, Hill D, Klein PN, Lepczyk C, Lilly EL, McLeod R, Milcarsky J, Murphy CE, Su C, VanWormer E, Yolken R, Sizemore GC. The One Health Approach to Toxoplasmosis: Epidemiology, Control, and Prevention Strategies. Ecohealth. 2019 Jun;16(2):378-390. doi: 10.1007/s10393-019-01405-7. Epub 2019 Apr 3. Review. Erratum in: Ecohealth. 2019 Jun 5. PMID: 30945159.
Gomez CA, Budvytyte LN, Press C, Zhou L, McLeod R, Maldonado Y, Montoya JG, Contopoulos-Ioannidis DG. Evaluation of Three Point-of-Care Tests for Detection of Toxoplasma Immunoglobulin IgG and IgM in the United States: Proof of Concept and Challenges. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2018 Oct 29;5(10); PMID 30393749.
El Bissati K, Levigne,P, Lykins L: El Bachir ,Barkat A, Berraho A, Laboudi M. El Mansouri, B, Ibrahimi A,Rhajaoui M,Quinn F, Murugesan M, Seghrouchni F, Gómez-Marín JE, Peyron F, McLeod R. Global Initiative for Congenital Toxoplasmosis: An Observational and International Comparative Clinical AnalysisEmerging Microbes and Infections –Nature, September 2018.
Lykins J, Li X, Levigne P, Zhou Y, El Bissati K, Clouser F, Wallon M, Morel F, Leahy K, El Mansouri B,Siddiqui M, Leong N, Michalowski M, Irwin E, Goodall P, Ismail M, Christmas M, Adlaoui EB, Rhajaoui M,Barkat A, Cong H, Begeman IJ, Lai BS, Contopoulos-Ioannidis DG, Montoya JG, Maldonado Y, Ramirez R, Press C Peyron F, McLeod R Rapid, inexpensive, fingerstick, whole-blood, sensitive, specific, point-of care test for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2018 Aug 16;12(8):e0006536. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0006536. eCollection 2018 Aug. PMID: 30114251.
Naranjo-Galvis CA, de-la-Torre A, Mantilla-Muriel LE, Beltrán-Angarita L, Elcoroaristizabal-Martín X, McLeod R, Alliey-Rodriguez N, Begeman IJ, López de Mesa C, Gómez-Marín JE, Sepúlveda-Arias JC. Genetic Polymorphisms in Cytokine Genes in Colombian Patients with Ocular Toxoplasmosis. Infect Immun. 2018 Mar 22;86(4). pii: e00597-17. doi: 10.1128/IAI.00597-17. Print 2018 Apr. PMID: 29426041.
McLeod R, Wheeler KM, Boyer K. Reply to Wallon and Peyron. Clin Infect Dis. 2016 Mar 15;62(6):812-4. doi: 10.1093/cid/civ1036. Epub 2015 Dec 21. No abstract available. PMID: 26689955.
Begeman IJ, Lykins J, Zhou Y, Lai BS, Levigne P, El Bissati K, Boyer K, Withers S, Clouser F, Noble AG, Rabiah P, Swisher CN, Heydemann PT, Contopoulos-Ioannidis DG, Montoya JG, Maldonado Y, Ramirez R, Press C, Stillwaggon E, Peyron F, McLeod R. Point-of-care testing for Toxoplasma gondii IgG/IgM using Toxoplasma ICT IgG-IgM test with sera from the United States and implications for developing countries. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 Jun 26;11(6):e0005670. PMID: 28650970.
Contopoulos-Ioannidis D, Wheeler KM, Ramirez R, Press C, Mui E, Zhou Y, Van Tubbergen C, Prasad S, Maldonado Y, Withers S, Boyer KM, Noble AG, Rabiah P, Swisher CN, Heydemann P, Wroblewski K, Karrison T, Grigg ME, Montoya JG, McLeod R. Clustering of Toxoplasma gondii Infections Within Families of Congenitally Infected Infants. Clin Infect Dis. 2015 Dec 15;61(12):1815-24. doi: 10.1093/cid/civ721. Epub 2015 Sep 24. PMID: 26405150.
Rima McLeod,1,2,3 Kenneth M. Boyer,4,5 Daniel Lee,1 Ernest Mui,1 Kristen Wroblewski,6 Theodore Karrison,6 A. Gwendolyn Noble,1,7 Shawn Withers,6 Charles N. Swisher,8 Peter T. Heydemann,9 Mari Sautter,1 Jane Babiarz,1 Peter Rabiah,7 Paul Meier,6,10,a Michael E. Grigg,11 and the Toxoplasmosis Study Groupb Prematurity and Severity Are Associated WithToxoplasma gondii Alleles (NCCCTS, 1981–2009) Clinical Infectious Diseases 2012;54(11):1595–605.
Stillwaggon E, Carrier CS, Sautter M, McLeod R (2011) Maternal Serologic Screening to Prevent Congenital Toxoplasmosis: A Decision-Analytic Economic Model. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 5(9): e1333. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001333.
Biochemistry molecular biology, medicinal chemistry, medicines
Lykins JD, Filippova EV, Halavaty AS, Minasov G, Zhou Y, Dubrovska I, Flores KJ, Shuvalova LA, Ruan J, El Bissati K, Dovgin S, Roberts CW, Woods S, Moulton JD, Moulton H, McPhillie MJ, Muench SP, Fishwick CWG, Sabini E, Shanmugam D, Roos DS, McLeod R, Anderson WF, Ngô HM. CSGID Solves Structures and Identifies Phenotypes for Five Enzymes in Toxoplasma gondii. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2018 Oct 5;8:352. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2018.00352. eCollection 2018. PMID: 30345257.
McPhillie M, Zhou Y, El Bissati K, Dubey J, Lorenzi H, Capper M, Lukens AK, Hickman M, Muench S, Verma SK, Weber CR, Wheeler K, Gordon J, Sanders J, Moulton H, Wang K, Kim TK, He Y, Santos T, Woods S, Lee P, Donkin D, Kim E, Fraczek L, Lykins J, Esaa F, Alibana-Clouser F, Dovgin S, Weiss L, Brasseur G, Wirth D, Kent M, Hood L, Meunieur B, Roberts CW, Hasnain SS, Antonyuk SV, Fishwick C, McLeod R. New paradigms for understanding and step changes in treating active and chronic, persistent apicomplexan infections. Sci Rep. 2016;6:29179. doi: 10.1038/srep29179. PubMed PMID: 27412848; PMCID: PMC4944145
Sanders JL, Zhou Y, Moulton HM, Moulton ZX, McLeod R, Dubey JP, Weiss LM, Kent ML. The zebrafish, Danio rerio, as a model for Toxoplasma gondii: an initial description of infection in fish. J Fish Dis. 2015 Jul;38(7):675-9. doi: 10.1111/jfd.12393. Epub 2015 May 7. No abstract available. PMID: 25951508.
Fomovska A, Wood RD, Mui E, Dubey JP, Ferreira LR, Hickman MR, Lee PJ, Leed SE, Auschwitz JM, Welsh WJ, Sommerville C, Woods S, Roberts C, McLeod R. Salicylanilide inhibitors of Toxoplasma gondii. J Med Chem. 55(19):8375-91, 2012. PMID: 22970937. PMCID: PMC3498903.
Lai BS, Witola WH, El Bissati K, Zhou Y, Mui E, Fomovska A, McLeod R. Molecular target validation, antimicrobial delivery, and potential treatment of Toxoplasma gondii infections. Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 109(35):14182-7, 2012. PMID: 22891343. PMCID: PMC3435209.
Immunology,vaccines
El Bissati K, Zhou Y, Paulillo SM, Raman SK, Karch CP, Roberts CW, Lanar DE, Reed S, Fox C, Carter D, Alexander J, Sette A, Sidney J, Lorenzi H, Begeman IJ, Burkhard P, McLeod R. Novel protein nanovaccine confers robust immunity against Toxoplasma. Npj(Nature) Vaccines. September, 2017. doi: 10.1038/s41541-017-0024-6. eCollection 2017. PMID: 29263879.
McMurtrey C, Trolle T, Sansom T, Remesh S, Kaever T, Bardet W, Jackson K, Nielsen M, McLeod R, Zajonc D, Blader I, Peters B, Sette A, Hildebrand W. Toxoplasma gondii Peptide Ligands Open the Gate of the HLA Class I Binding Groove. Elife. 2016;5. PMID: 26824387. PMCID: PMC4775218.
El Bissati K, Chentoufi A, Krishack P, Zhou Y, Woods S, Dubey J, Vang L, Roberts C, Lykins J, Broderick K, Mui E, Suzuki Y, Bi S, Cardona N, Verma S, Frazeck L, Reardon C, Sidney J, Reed S, Alexander J, McLeod R. Adjuvanted multi-epitope vaccines protect HLA-A*11:01 transgenic mice against Toxoplasma gondii. JCI insight. (2016). 1(15):e85955. doi:10.1172/jci.insight.85955. PMID: 27699241. PMCID: PMC5033759.
Dubey JP, Ferreira LR, Martins J, McLeod R. Oral oocyst-induced mouse model of toxoplasmosis: effect of infection with T. gondii strains of different genotypes, dose, & mouse strains (transgenic, outbred, in-bred) on pathogenesis & mortality. Parasitology. 139(1):1-13, 2012. PMID: 22078010. PMCID: PMC3683600.
Tan T, Mui E, Cong H, Witola W, Montpetit A, Muench S, Sidney J, Alexander J, Sette A, Grigg M, Reed S, Maewal A, McLeod R. Identification of T. gondii epitopes, adjuvants, & host genetic factors that influence protection of mice & humans. Vaccine. 28(23):3977-89, 2010. PMID: 20347630. PMCID: PMC2895808.