A suite of eight Toxoplasma gondii effectors cooperates to activate the non-canonical NF-κB pathway.

Toxoplasma gondii activates the non-canonical NF-κB pathway through a cooperative network of eight effectors, leading to nuclear accumulation of RelB and p52 in host cells.

• Why it matters: Understanding how T. gondii manipulates host immune signaling beyond the canonical NF-κB pathway is crucial, as this pathogen extensively rewires host responses to establish long-term infection.
• What they did: The study used knockout parasites and demonstrated that eight MYR1-dependent effectors collectively drive NIK stabilization, TRAF3 depletion, and p100 processing, resulting in non-canonical NF-κB activation.
• The result: This multi-effector network reveals a distributed regulatory strategy by T. gondii, expanding knowledge of host-parasite interactions and highlighting a new axis of immune modulation.