Chronic Chagas' Disease Cardiomyopathy Patients Display an Increased IFN-γ Response to Trypanosoma cruzi Infection

Objective: To compare the diagnostic performance of seven methods to determine Trypanosoma cruzi infection in patients with chronic Chagas disease. Methods: Analytical study, using the case-control design, which included 205 people (patients with Chagasic cardiomyopathy, n= 100; control group, n= 105). Three enzyme linked immunosorbent assays, one indirect hemagglutination assay and one immunochromatographic test were assessed. Additionally, DNA amplification was performed via the PCR method using kinetoplast and nuclear DNA as target sequences. For the comparative analysis of diagnostic tests, the parameters used were sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC), positive and negative likelihood ratio, as well as κ quality analysis. Results: The commercial Bioelisa Chagas test showed the highest sensitivity (98%), specificity (100%), and positive and negative predictive values; additionally it had the highest discriminatory power. Otherwise, the amplification of T. cruzi DNA in blood samples showed low values of sensitivity (kinetoplast DNA= 51%, nuclear DNA= 22%), but high values of specificity (100%), and moderate to low discriminatory ability. Conclusion: The comparative analysis among the different methods suggests that the diagnostic strategy of T. cruzi infection in patients with chronic Chagas disease can be performed using ELISA assays based on recombinant proteins and/or synthetic peptides, which show higher diagnosis performance and can confirm and exclude the diagnosis of T. cruzi infection. The molecular methods show poor performance when used in the diagnosis of patients with chronic Chagas disease.

Download Full-text

Trypanosoma cruzi-specific IFN-γ-producing cells in chronic Chagas disease associate with a functional IL-7/IL-7R axis

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽

10.1371/journal.pntd.0006998 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 12 (12) ◽

pp. e0006998 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

María A. Natale ◽

Gonzalo A. César ◽

María G. Alvarez ◽

Melisa D. Castro Eiro ◽

Bruno Lococo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Trypanosoma Cruzi ◽

Chagas Disease ◽

Ifn Γ ◽

Chronic Chagas Disease

Download Full-text

Faculty Opinions recommendation of Clinical profile of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in a non-endemic setting: immigration and Chagas disease in Barcelona (Spain).

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.1160579.620947 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Herbert Tanowitz ◽

Fabiana Machado

Keyword(s):

Trypanosoma Cruzi ◽

Chagas Disease ◽

Clinical Profile ◽

Endemic Setting ◽

Cruzi Infection

Download Full-text

Dynamics of T Cells Repertoire During Trypanosoma cruzi Infection and its Post-Treatment Modulation

Current Medicinal Chemistry ◽

10.2174/0929867325666181101111819 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 26 (36) ◽

pp. 6519-6543 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Adriana Egui ◽

Paola Lasso ◽

Elena Pérez-Antón ◽

M. Carmen Thomas ◽

Manuel Carlos López

Keyword(s):

Immune Response ◽

Trypanosoma Cruzi ◽

Chagas Disease ◽

Cardiac Tissue ◽

Acute Infection ◽

Clinical Status ◽

Chronic Phase ◽

Parasite Load ◽

Chronic Patients ◽

Cruzi Infection

Chagas disease courses with different clinical phases and has a variable clinical presentation and progression. The acute infection phase mostly exhibits a non-specific symptomatology. In the absence of treatment, the acute phase is followed by a chronic phase, which is initially asymptomatic. This chronic asymptomatic phase of the disease is characterized by a fragile balance between the host’s immune response and the parasite replication. The loss of this balance is crucial for the progression of the sickness. The virulence and tropism of the T. cruzi infecting strain together to the inflammation processes in the cardiac tissue are the main factors for the establishment and severity of the cardiomyopathy. The efficacy of treatment in chronic Chagas disease patients is controversial. However, several studies carried out in chronic patients demonstrated that antiparasitic treatment reduces parasite load in the bloodstream and leads to an improvement in the immune response against the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite. The present review is mainly focused on the cellular patterns associated to the clinical status and the evolution of the disease in chronic patients, as well as the effectiveness of the treatment related to T. cruzi infection control. Therefore, an emphasis is placed on the dynamics of specific-antigens T cell subpopulations, their memory and activation phenotypes, their functionality and their contribution to pathogenesis or disease control, as well as their association with risk of congenital transmission of the parasite.

Download Full-text

Absence of Bim sensitizes mice to experimental Trypanosoma cruzi infection

Cell Death and Disease ◽

10.1038/s41419-021-03964-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (7) ◽

Author(s):

Marcela Hernández-Torres ◽

Rogério Silva do Nascimento ◽

Monica Cardozo Rebouças ◽

Alexandra Cassado ◽

Kely Catarine Matteucci ◽

...

Keyword(s):

T Cells ◽

Trypanosoma Cruzi ◽

Chagas Disease ◽

Parasite Load ◽

Peritoneal Macrophages ◽

T Cell Response ◽

No Production ◽

Similar Reduction ◽

Ifn Γ

AbstractChagas disease is a life-threatening disorder caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Parasite-specific antibodies, CD8+ T cells, as well as IFN-γ and nitric oxide (NO) are key elements of the adaptive and innate immunity against the extracellular and intracellular forms of the parasite. Bim is a potent pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family implicated in different aspects of the immune regulation, such as negative selection of self-reactive thymocytes and elimination of antigen-specific T cells at the end of an immune response. Interestingly, the role of Bim during infections remains largely unidentified. To explore the role of Bim in Chagas disease, we infected WT, Bim+/−, Bim−/− mice with trypomastigotes forms of the Y strain of T. cruzi. Strikingly, our data revealed that Bim−/− mice exhibit a delay in the development of parasitemia followed by a deficiency in the control of parasite load in the bloodstream and a decreased survival compared to WT and Bim+/− mice. At the peak of parasitemia, peritoneal macrophages of Bim−/− mice exhibit decreased NO production, which correlated with a decrease in the pro-inflammatory Small Peritoneal Macrophage (SPM) subset. A similar reduction in NO secretion, as well as in the pro-inflammatory cytokines IFN-γ and IL-6, was also observed in Bim−/− splenocytes. Moreover, an impaired anti-T. cruzi CD8+ T-cell response was found in Bim−/− mice at this time point. Taken together, our results suggest that these alterations may contribute to the establishment of a delayed yet enlarged parasitic load observed at day 9 after infection of Bim−/− mice and place Bim as an important protein in the control of T. cruzi infections.

Download Full-text