The role of fat on cardiomyopathy outcome in mouse models of chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infection

Small molecule mediators of host-T. cruzi-environment interactions in Chagas disease

“…This contrasts with findings in the context of malaria infection, where a high-fat diet impaired Plasmodium liver infection [140]. One caveat with these studies is that many of the high-fat diets are also higher caloric (for instance, [131,136]); thus, the observed effects may reflect caloric differences rather than purely fat-driven effects.…”

“…Several studies analyzed the impact of shifting lipid homeostasis through a high fat diet (Table 1). In the acute stage, worse parasitemia was observed in mice fed a high-fat diet [131][132][133][134], in association with higher cardiac inflammation [131,133], though this contrasts with [135,136]. The functional impact during chronic infection was variable depending on the ventricle [137].…”

“…Proportional associations between BMI and disease severity have also been reported [146]. Patients with anti-T. cruzi antibodies were less likely to be PCR positive if they were overweight or obese, suggesting differential parasite dynamics and, possibly, sequestration based on patient adipose tissue [147], mirroring findings in mice [61,136]. Confounders include gastrointestinal discomfort in CD patients, which could have led to the dietary alterations, study sites, and socioeconomic factors [141,142].…”