Apical Organelle Secretion by Toxoplasma Controls Innate and Adaptive Immunity and Mediates Long-Term Protection

Apicomplexan parasites have unique apical rhoptry and microneme secretory organelles that are crucial for host infection, although their role in protection against Toxoplasma gondii infection is not thoroughly understood. Here, we report a novel function of the endolysosomal T. gondii sortilin-like receptor (TgSORTLR), which mediates trafficking to functional apical organelles and their subsequent secretion of virulence factors that are critical to the induction of sterile immunity against parasite reinfection. We further demonstrate that the T. gondii armadillo repeats-only protein (TgARO) mutant, which is deficient only in apical secretion of rhoptries, is also critical in mounting protective immunity. The lack of TgSORTLR and TgARO proteins completely inhibited T-helper 1-dependent adaptive immunity and compromised the function of natural killer T-cell-mediated innate immunity. Our findings reveal an essential role for apical secretion in promoting sterile protection against T. gondii and provide strong evidence for rhoptry-regulated discharge of antigens as a key effector for inducing protective immunity.