Effect of hyperprolactinaemia on Toxoplasma gondii prevalence in humans

Recent studies have shown that hormones could induce anti-parasitic functions of the host immune system; thus, the aim of the present study was to estimate the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in a Polish population of women and men with hyperprolactinaemia (n=234) and hypoprolactinaemia (n=41) and in a control group (n=281) with the physiological level of prolactin (PRL). Women with hyperprolactinaemia revealed lower seroprevalence than those with normal PRL level (33.90% and 45.58%, respectively; p=0.025). Detailed analysis of the results showed that twofold, threefold, fourfold and fivefold increase of the PRL concentration above the normal was correlated to the decrease of the T. gondii seroprevalence, but only in the group of women with a very high PRL level (>86 ng/ml) seroprevalence (12.50%) was significantly lower (p=0.0004) than in the control subjects. These results confirm previously described suggestions on the relationship between hyperprolactinaemia and parasitic infection frequency. We postulate that a high level of PRL may be one of the important factors preventing T. gondii infection in women.