T. gondii infection induces IL-1R dependent chronic cachexia and perivascular fibrosis in the liver and skeletal muscle

Cachexia is a progressive muscle wasting disease that contributes to death in a wide range of chronic diseases. Currently, the cachexia field lacks animal models that recapitulate the long-term kinetics of clinical disease, which would provide insight into the pathophysiology of chronic cachexia and a tool to test therapeutics for disease reversal. Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a protozoan parasite that uses conserved mechanisms to infect rodents and human hosts. Infection is lifelong and has been associated with chronic weight loss and muscle atrophy in mice. We have recently shown that T. gondii-induced muscle atrophy meets the clinical definition of cachexia. Here, the longevity of the T. gondii-induced chronic cachexia model revealed that cachectic mice develop perivascular fibrosis in major metabolic organs, including the adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and liver by 9 weeks post-infection. Development of cachexia, as well as liver and skeletal muscle fibrosis, is dependent on intact signaling through the type I IL-1R receptor. IL-1α is sufficient to activate cultured fibroblasts and primary hepatic stellate cells (myofibroblast precursors in the liver) in vitro, and IL-1α is elevated in the sera and liver of cachectic, suggesting a mechanism by which chronic IL-1R signaling could be leading to cachexia-associated fibrosis.