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Updated: Oct 24, 2026

Parasite Induced Genetically Driven Autoimmune Chagas Heart Disease in the Chicken Model
Published on: July 29, 2012
Presence of autoantibodies against small nuclear ribonucleoprotein epitopes in Chagas' patients' sera
M Bach-Elias1, D Bahia, D C Teixeira
1CID-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain. mbebmc@cid.csic.es
Abstract:
We investigated the possibility that Chagas' patients develop an autoimmune response to human UsnRNPs (small nuclear ribonucleoprotein) or Sm epitopes. Using purified human UsnRNPs, we detected anti-human UsnRNPs antibodies in sera from patients suffering from Chagas' disease. The antibodies were also detected using peptide enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays containing the Sm-motif 1 domain. The latter technique showed that 61% (31/51) of the Chagas' patients' sera contained antibodies against Sm-motif 1. The detection of anti-UsnRNPs autoantibodies in Chagas' patients' sera strongly encourages further studies using animal models to determine how these autoantibodies appear.
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