Resposta proliferativa das células T contra a cruzipaina na cardiopatia chagásica crônica

Abstract

In this paper, we sought to determine if chronic chagasic patients with cardiopathy could be distinguished from those displaying non-chagasic cardiopathy on the basis of T cell proliferative responses to cruzipain (GP57/51), a major antigen of T. cruzi. Assays were performed with peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 24 individuals classified as follows: normal donors (n = 8), patients with non-chagasic cardiopathy (n = 8), patients with chronic chagasic cardiopathy without morbid associations (n = 8). The analysis of variance indicated that the proliferative responses stimulated by cruzipain were significantly higher in the group of chagasic patients (p = 0.0001). Turkey's multiple comparison test showed that the proliferative index medium from normal and non-chagasic cardiopathy was not significantly different from each other. We conclude that the T cell responses against T. cruzipain, as measured by proliferative indices of cells found in peripheral blood, are exclusively associated with Chagas, disease. In view of the abundance of cruzipain antigen in amastigotes it is possible that these T cell specificities contribute to the heart tissue damage observed in chronic Chagas, disease patients.

Oxidative stress in chronic cardiopathy associated with Chagas disease

“…In accordance to [33], group II is characterized by higher intracellular lesions, inflammation and fibrosis compared to groups IA and IB, while in group III there is a greater incidence and greater severity of such abnormalities, indicating a direct correlation between these processes and the degree of cardiac remodeling. The modified Los Andes classification reviewed by Xavier [25] shows that the higher the degree of ventricular remodeling the higher the mortality, and some studies have used this classification for clinical evaluations [15,34,35]. Taken these clinical aspects into consideration, in the present study the patients were ranked according to the modified classification reviewed by Xavier [25], and also because it indicates the extensive cardiac damage in chronic chagasic patients.…”

“…The implication of these finding is that the infected individual may remain clinically asymptomatic until a critical mass of impaired tissue has accumulated, resulting in clinical symptomatology [14]. Nevertheless, the lack of reliable data, mainly regarding the basic mechanisms determining the progression of heart disease, has created difficulties in understanding the extensive cardiac damage in chronic chagasic patients [15]. Therefore, understanding of the extensive cardiac damage in chronic chagasic patients is essential for the design of rational therapeutic strategies.…”

Soroprevalência e condicionantes para Doença de Chagas (Tripanossomíase americana), região do sopé da Cordilheira Oriental, Estado de Meta, Colômbia, 1998

“…Em relação ao sexo, as mulheres ao que parece, têm um incremento da resistência à infeção por T. cruzi quando comparada ao homem -o que se revela nas baixas taxas de irregularidade cardíaca (BRABIN, 1992). As lesões cardíacas têm sido explicadas por vários pesquisadores (BARBOSA & ANDRADE, 1984;ALMEIDA, 1984;AMORIM & NETO, 1995;NOGUEIRA et a/., 1995;MADY & NACRUTH, 1995;PEDROSA et a/., 1996).…”