Development of Diagnostics for Chagas Disease: Where Should We Put Our Limited Resources?

Target product profile for a test for the early assessment of treatment efficacy in Chagas disease patients: An expert consensus

“…A test allowing the early assessment of antiparasitic treatment efficacy in Chagas disease patients has been recognized as a priority for a long time [16,17,19,27]. However, despite some recent advances [28,29], these tests are currently only available for research use.…”

“…Accurately monitoring treatment response would undoubtedly improve patient management and support the conduct of clinical trials. Although treatment efficacy and treatment response may be conceptually different, we are using these terms synonymously for the purpose of the current target product profile (TPP) [16,17].…”

“…Development of a test that can determine in a timely manner if a patient treated for Chagas disease has successfully responded to treatment has therefore been identified as a priority [16]. As mentioned above, such a test could be used in two different scenarios or use cases: (1) the daily clinical management (DCM) of Chagas disease patients posttreatment to decide if and/or when a patient should be followed up after treatment completion and (2) in the context of clinical trials (CT), where the test would be used as the endpoint measurement for the evaluation of new anti-T. cruzi treatments.…”

Implications of asymptomatic infection for the natural history of selected parasitic tropical diseases

“…To do this, more accurate tests to determine organ damage early should be available in countries with a high burden of Chagas disease [17]. Discovery and development of molecular biomarkers of early cardiological and digestive damage, as well as prognostic biomarkers, would be useful tools to address this need [18,19].…”

Reconhecimento molecular na doença de chagas do ponto de vista do parasita e do hospedeiro

“…Hoje, um dos maiores impeditivos para que se possa estudar e desenvolver drogas efetivas para a doença de Chagas é a falta de um método diagnóstico que ateste cura (CANÇADO, 1999;JANNIN;VILLA, 2007;PICADO et al, 2017;PINAZO et al, 2014 (THOMAS et al, 2012), indicando mais uma vez a validade dos resultados. Um aspecto ainda a ser elucidado é se a abundância de leituras de DNA observada para uma sequência ao final dos nossos experimentos se correlaciona com título do soro para este epítopo.…”