Intact immune defenses are required for mice to resist the ts-4 vaccine strain of Toxoplasma gondii

The ts-4 strain of Toxoplasma gondii is a temperature-sensitive mutant that fails to grow at 40 degrees C in vitro. Unlike mildly virulent cyst-forming strains, which can cause fatal chronic infections in certain mouse strains, ts-4 has been widely used to vaccinate mice against virulent T. gondii and is a valuable tool with which to investigate mechanisms of acquired resistance to this parasite. In this report, the basis for the avirulence of ts-4 is analyzed. It is shown that ts-4 is able to persist long-term in vivo in mildly immunocompromised mice, which rules out an intrinsic growth defect as a reason for avirulence. ts-4 does not induce body temperatures in mice as high as that needed to kill it in vitro. Moreover, the mild fevers elicited in resistant B6 mice are also seen in susceptible C57BL/6 scid/scid mice. However, ts-4 elicits strong preimmune defenses, dependent on gamma interferon, which are needed by mice to survive acute infection. Furthermore, CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cell-dependent acquired immunity is essential for long-term survival of ts-4-infected mice.