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Parasite Induced Genetically Driven Autoimmune Chagas Heart Disease in the Chicken Model
Published on: July 29, 2012
Cell mediated immune response in patients with Chagas. Correlation with the presence of Chagasic cardiomyopathy
1Laboratorio de Fisiopatología, Instituto de Biomedicina, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas.
Insights
Cell-mediated immune responses differ between infected patients with and without Chagasic cardiomyopathy. T cell subset responses in Chagasic cardiomyopathy patients suggest a potential prognostic marker for disease progression.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Infectious Diseases
- Cardiology
Background:
- Chagasic cardiomyopathy is a severe complication of Trypanosoma cruzi infection.
- Understanding the immune response is crucial for predicting disease progression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the correlation between cell-mediated immunity and Chagasic cardiomyopathy.
- To identify potential immune markers for disease prognosis.
Main Methods:
- Studied three groups: infected without heart pathology (INF), infected with Chagasic cardiomyopathy (CDM), and healthy controls.
- Assessed immune response correlation with parasitemia, Trypanosoma cruzi antigen-induced suppression, IL2 production, and T cell subset responses.
Main Results:
- INF patients with parasitemia showed lower immune response and higher negative regulation.
- Both patient groups produced less IL2 than controls; CDM patients produced less than INF.
- T cell subset responses were highly concordant in CDM but not in INF patients.
Conclusions:
- Significant differences exist in cell-mediated immune responses between INF and CDM patients.
- The high concordance of T cell subset responses in CDM suggests prognostic value for disease progression.
Abstract:
We are reporting data from a series of studies undertaken to evaluate if there was any correlation between the cell mediated immune response and the presence of Chagasic cardiomyopathy. Infected patients without evidence of heart pathology (INF), infected patients with Chagasic cardiomyopathy (CDM) and healthy controls, were studied. We evaluated: a) the correlation of the immune response with the presence of parasitemia; b) the suppression induced by Trypanosoma cruzi antigens using a costimulation assay; c) their production of IL2 when stimulated with antigens and mitogen; and d) the response of variable proportion of T cells subpopulations to parasite antigens. The immune response of INF was lower when parasitemia could be demonstrated. The negative regulation of the cell mediated immune response was higher in INF. The production of IL2 was lower in patients than in controls. CDM patients showed a tendency to produce less IL2 than INF. The outline of the response of variable proportions of subsets of T cells had a high concordance in CDM and no concordance in INF. These results show that there are differences in the cell mediated immune response of INF and CDM. The high concordance of the response of variable proportions of T cells, from CDM, suggests that this test could have a prognostic value.
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