Latent Upregulation of <i>Nlrp3, Nlrc4</i> and <i>Aim2</i> Differentiates between Asymptomatic and Symptomatic <i>Trichomonas vaginalis</i> Infection

<i>Trichomonas vaginalis</i> is a parasitic protozoan that causes trichomoniasis. The involvement of NLRP3 inflammasome in trichomoniasis has been discussed in recent studies. The present study aimed to find out the involvement of <i>Nlrp3, Nlrc4</i>, and <i>Aim2</i> in the BALB/c mouse model infected with symptomatic and asymptomatic isolates of <i>T. vaginalis</i> by quantitative real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry. Our results showed a significantly increased expression of <i>Nlrp3</i> in the vaginal tissue of the symptomatic group on the 2^nd dpi and 14^th dpi in the asymptomatic group, respectively. The cervical tissue of asymptomatic groups expressed higher <i>Nlrp3</i> on 14^th dpi than the symptomatic group. The <i>Nlrc4</i> was expressed on 14^th dpi in the vaginal and cervical tissues of mice infected with asymptomatic group as compared to the symptomatic group. <i>Aim2</i> expression in vaginal tissue was highest at early time points in both the infected groups as compared to controls. However, in cervical tissues, a significant increase of <i>Aim2</i> expression was observed on 14^th dpi in asymptomatic as compared to the symptomatic group. The significantly higher expression of <i>caspase-1</i> and <i>caspase-4</i> was observed in cervical tissues of the asymptomatic group on 14^th dpi as compared to the symptomatic group, respectively. All NLRs together resulted in higher IL-1β expression in the vaginal tissues of the symptomatic and asymptomatic groups. We conclude from this study that early expression of <i>Nlrp3, Nlrc4</i>, and <i>Aim2</i> was seen in the symptomatic group as compared to the late-onset asymptomatic in the vaginal and cervical tissues.