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Resende CAA, Ribeiro AJ, Gandra IB, Silva KA, Lopes LDS, Barcelos ICDS, Couto CAP, de Faria MT, Pereira SP, Xavier SR, Machado JM, da Paz MC, Chaves AT, Coelho EAF, Giunchetti RC, Chávez-Fumagalli MA, Dutra WO, Gonçalves AAM, Galdino AS. Recombinant proteins as promising antigens applied to the immunodiagnosis of Chagas disease: a scoping review. Front Microbiol 2024; 15:1420226. [PMID: 39139374 PMCID: PMC11319188 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1420226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2024] [Accepted: 07/16/2024] [Indexed: 08/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Chagas disease (CD), caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is an important public health problem, occurring mainly in Latin America. The disease has a major social and economical effect, negatively impacting the life of the infected individuals, and bringing great costs to public health. An early and accurate diagnosis is essential for administration of early treatment. In addition, prognostic tests may aid disease management, decreasing hospitalization costs. However, the serological diagnostic scenario for CD still faces several challenges, making the development of new diagnostic kits a pressing matter. Facing this scenario, several researchers have expanded efforts in developing and testing new antigens, such as recombinant proteins and recombinant multiepitope proteins, with promising results. These recombinant antigens offer several advantages, such as improved sensitivity and specificity, in addition to facilitated scaling. Also, it has been possible to observe a rising number of studies using ELISA and point-of-care platforms, employing these antigens in the past few years. Among them, recombinant proteins were the most applied antigens, demonstrating great capacity to discriminate between positive and negative samples. Although fewer in number, recombinant multiepitope proteins also demonstrated an improved diagnostic performance. Indeed, a great number of studies employing these antigens showed sensitivity and specificity values above 90%, greatly impacting diagnostic accuracy. Nevertheless, despite the good results found, it is still possible to observe some bottlenecks in the development of new antigens, such as the scarcity of tests with sera from the acute phase and the variability of results in different geographic areas. In this sense, aiming to contribute to control and health programs, the continuous search for a more accurate serological diagnosis is essential, both for the acute and chronic phases of the disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Ananias Aparecido Resende
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Anna Júlia Ribeiro
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Isadora Braga Gandra
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Kamila Alves Silva
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Lucas da Silva Lopes
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Isabelle Caroline dos Santos Barcelos
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Carolina Alves Petit Couto
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Mariana Teixeira de Faria
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Sabrina Paula Pereira
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Sandra Rodrigues Xavier
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Juliana Martins Machado
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Mariana Campos da Paz
- Laboratory of Bioactives and Nanobiotechnology, Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Ana Thereza Chaves
- Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Eduardo Antônio Ferraz Coelho
- Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Rodolfo Cordeiro Giunchetti
- Laboratory of Biology of Cell Interactions, Department of Morphology, National Institute of Science and Technology on Tropical Diseases (INCT-T), Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Miguel Angel Chávez-Fumagalli
- Computational Biology and Chemistry Research Group, Vicerrectorado de Investigación, Universidad Católica de Santa María, Arequipa, Peru
| | - Walderez Ornelas Dutra
- Laboratory of Biology of Cell Interactions, Department of Morphology, National Institute of Science and Technology on Tropical Diseases (INCT-T), Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Ana Alice Maia Gonçalves
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
| | - Alexsandro Sobreira Galdino
- Microorganism Biotechnology Laboratory, National Institute of Science and Technology on Industrial Biotechnology (INCT-BI), Federal University of São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil
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Abal M, Balouz V, Lopez R, Giorgi ME, Marino C, Cruz CV, Altcheh J, Buscaglia CA. An α-Gal antigenic surrogate as a biomarker of treatment evaluation in Trypanosoma cruzi-infected children. A retrospective cohort study. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2024; 18:e0011910. [PMID: 38236916 PMCID: PMC10826959 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Revised: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 01/31/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Proper evaluation of therapeutic responses in Chagas disease is hampered by the prolonged persistence of antibodies to Trypanosoma cruzi measured by conventional serological tests and by the lack of sensitivity of parasitological tests. Previous studies indicated that tGPI-mucins, an α-Gal (α-d-Galp(1→3)-β-d-Galp(1→4)-d-GlcNAc)-rich fraction obtained from T. cruzi trypomastigotes surface coat, elicit a strong and protective antibody response in infected individuals, which disappears soon after successful treatment. The cost and technical difficulties associated with tGPI-mucins preparation, however, preclude its routine implementation in clinical settings. METHODS/PRINCIPLE FINDINGS We herein developed a neoglycoprotein consisting of a BSA scaffold decorated with several units of a synthetic α-Gal antigenic surrogate (α-d-Galp(1→3)-β-d-Galp(1→4)-β-d-Glcp). Serological responses to this reagent, termed NGP-Tri, were monitored by means of an in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (α-Gal-ELISA) in a cohort of 82 T. cruzi-infected and Benznidazole- or Nifurtimox-treated children (3 days to 16 years-old). This cohort was split into 3 groups based on the age of patients at the time of treatment initiation: Group 1 comprised 24 babies (3 days to 5 months-old; median = 26 days-old), Group 2 comprised 31 children (7 months to 3 years-old; median = 1.0-year-old) and Group 3 comprised 26 patients (3 to 16 years-old; median = 8.4 years-old). A second, control cohort (Group 4) included 39 non-infected infants (3 days to 5 months-old; median = 31 days-old) born to T. cruzi-infected mothers. Despite its suboptimal seroprevalence (58.4%), α-Gal-ELISA yielded shorter median time values of negativization (23 months [IC 95% 7 to 36 months] vs 60 months [IC 95% 15 to 83 months]; p = 0.0016) and higher rate of patient negative seroconversion (89.2% vs 43.2%, p < 0.005) as compared to conventional serological methods. The same effect was verified for every Group, when analyzed separately. Most remarkably, 14 out of 24 (58.3%) patients from Group 3 achieved negative seroconversion for α-Gal-ELISA while none of them were able to negativize for conventional serology. Detailed analysis of patients showing unconventional serological responses suggested that, in addition to providing a novel tool to shorten follow-up periods after chemotherapy, the α-Gal-ELISA may assist in other diagnostic needs in pediatric Chagas disease. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE The tools evaluated here provide the cornerstone for the development of an efficacious, reliable, and straightforward post-therapeutic marker for pediatric Chagas disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Abal
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas (IIBio), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM), and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Escuela de Bio y Nanotecnologías (EByN), UNSAM, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Virginia Balouz
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas (IIBio), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM), and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Escuela de Bio y Nanotecnologías (EByN), UNSAM, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Rosana Lopez
- Centro de Investigaciones en Hidratos de Carbono (CIHIDECAR), Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), and CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - M. Eugenia Giorgi
- Centro de Investigaciones en Hidratos de Carbono (CIHIDECAR), Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), and CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Carla Marino
- Centro de Investigaciones en Hidratos de Carbono (CIHIDECAR), Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), and CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Cintia V. Cruz
- Servicio de Parasitología-Chagas, Hospital de Niños ’Dr Ricardo Gutierrez’, and Instituto Multidisciplinario en Investigaciones Pediátricas (IMIPP) CONICET-GCBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Mahidol Oxford Research Unit (MORU), Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Jaime Altcheh
- Servicio de Parasitología-Chagas, Hospital de Niños ’Dr Ricardo Gutierrez’, and Instituto Multidisciplinario en Investigaciones Pediátricas (IMIPP) CONICET-GCBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Fundación para el estudio de las infecciones parasitarias y enfermedad de Chagas (FIPEC foundation), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Carlos A. Buscaglia
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas (IIBio), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM), and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Escuela de Bio y Nanotecnologías (EByN), UNSAM, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Lozano N, Samblas MG, Calabuig E, Giménez Martí MJ, Gómez Ruiz MD, Arce JMS, Sequera-Arquelladas S, Moreno JMM, Trelis M, Osuna A. Use of sera cell free DNA (cfDNA) and exovesicle-DNA for the molecular diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0282814. [PMID: 37682970 PMCID: PMC10490946 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Chagas disease, a neglected tropical disease, is now considered a worldwide health concern as a result of migratory movements from Central and South America to other regions that were considered free of the disease, and where the epidemiological risk is limited to transplacental transmission or blood or organ donations from infected persons. Parasite detection in chronically ill patients is restricted to serological tests that only determine infection by previous infection and not the presence of the parasite, especially in patients undergoing treatment evaluation or in newborns. We have evaluated the use of nucleic acids from both circulating exovesicles and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from 50 samples twice randomly selected from a total of 448 serum samples from immunologically diagnosed patients in whom the presence of the parasite was confirmed by nested PCR on amplicons resulting from amplification with kinetoplastid DNA-specific primers 121F-122R. Six samples were randomly selected to quantify the limit of detection by qPCR in serum exovesicles. When the nucleic acids thus purified were assayed as a template and amplified with kinetoplastid DNA and nuclear satellite DNA primers, a 100% positivity rate was obtained for all positive samples assayed with kDNA-specific primers and 96% when SAT primers were used. However, isolation of cfDNA for Trypanosoma cruzi and amplification with SAT also showed 100% positivity. The results demonstrate that serum exovesicles contain DNA of mitochondrial and nuclear origin, which can be considered a mixed population of exovesicles of parasitic origin. The results obtained with serum samples prove that both cfDNA and Exovesicle DNA can be used to confirm parasitaemia in chronically ill patients or in samples where it is necessary to demonstrate the active presence of the parasite. The results confirm for the first time the existence of exovesicles of mitochondrial origin of the parasite in the serum of those affected by Chagas disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noelia Lozano
- Area of Parasitology, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology and Parasitology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
- Servicio de Microbiología y Parasitología Clínica, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe-IIS La Fe, Valencia, Spain
| | - Mercedes Gomez Samblas
- Grupo de Bioquímica y Parasitología Molecular (CTS 183), Departamento de Parasitología, Campus de Fuentenueva, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Eva Calabuig
- Unidad de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe-IIS La Fe, Valencia, Spain
| | - María José Giménez Martí
- Servicio de Microbiología y Parasitología Clínica, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe-IIS La Fe, Valencia, Spain
| | - Maria Dolores Gómez Ruiz
- Servicio de Microbiología y Parasitología Clínica, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe-IIS La Fe, Valencia, Spain
| | - José Miguel Sahuquillo Arce
- Servicio de Microbiología y Parasitología Clínica, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe-IIS La Fe, Valencia, Spain
| | | | - José Miguel Molina Moreno
- Servicio de Microbiología y Parasitología Clínica, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe-IIS La Fe, Valencia, Spain
| | - M. Trelis
- Area of Parasitology, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology and Parasitology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
- Joint Research Unit on Endocrinology, Nutrition and Clinical Dietetics, University of Valencia-Health Research Institute La Fe, Valencia, Spain
| | - Antonio Osuna
- Grupo de Bioquímica y Parasitología Molecular (CTS 183), Departamento de Parasitología, Campus de Fuentenueva, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
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Romer G, Bracco LA, Ricci AD, Balouz V, Berná L, Villar JC, Ramsey JM, Nolan MS, Torrico F, Kesper N, Altcheh J, Robello C, Buscaglia CA, Agüero F. Deep serological profiling of the Trypanosoma cruzi TSSA antigen reveals different epitopes and modes of recognition by Chagas disease patients. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2023; 17:e0011542. [PMID: 37556493 PMCID: PMC10441789 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, displays a highly structured population, with multiple strains that can be grouped into 6-7 evolutionary lineages showing variable eco-epidemiological traits and likely also distinct disease-associated features. Previous works have shown that antibody responses to 'isoforms' of the polymorphic parasite antigen TSSA enable robust and sensitive identification of the infecting strain with near lineage-level resolution. To optimize the serotyping performance of this molecule, we herein used a combination of immunosignaturing approaches based on peptide microarrays and serum samples from Chagas disease patients to establish a deep linear B-cell epitope profiling of TSSA. METHODS/PRINCIPLE FINDINGS Our assays revealed variations in the seroprevalence of TSSA isoforms among Chagas disease populations from different settings, hence strongly supporting the differential distribution of parasite lineages in domestic cycles across the Americas. Alanine scanning mutagenesis and the use of peptides of different lengths allowed us to identify key residues involved in antibody pairing and the presence of three discrete B-cell linear epitopes in TSSAII, the isoform with highest seroprevalence in human infections. Comprehensive screening of parasite genomic repositories led to the discovery of 9 novel T. cruzi TSSA variants and one TSSA sequence from the phylogenetically related bat parasite T. cruzi marinkellei. Further residue permutation analyses enabled the identification of diagnostically relevant or non-relevant substitutions among TSSA natural polymorphisms. Interestingly, T. cruzi marinkellei TSSA displayed specific serorecognition by one chronic Chagas disease patient from Colombia, which warrant further investigations on the diagnostic impact of such atypical TSSA. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Overall, our findings shed new light into TSSA evolution, epitope landscape and modes of recognition by Chagas disease patients; and have practical implications for the design and/or evaluation of T. cruzi serotyping strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guadalupe Romer
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas (IIB)–Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), B1650HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Escuela de Bio y Nanotecnologías (EByN), Universidad de San Martín (UNSAM), San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Leonel A. Bracco
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas (IIB)–Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), B1650HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Escuela de Bio y Nanotecnologías (EByN), Universidad de San Martín (UNSAM), San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Alejandro D. Ricci
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas (IIB)–Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), B1650HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Escuela de Bio y Nanotecnologías (EByN), Universidad de San Martín (UNSAM), San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Virginia Balouz
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas (IIB)–Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), B1650HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Escuela de Bio y Nanotecnologías (EByN), Universidad de San Martín (UNSAM), San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Luisa Berná
- Laboratorio de Interacciones Hospedero-Patógeno, Unidad de Biología Molecular, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Sección Biomatemática-Unidad de Genómica Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Juan C. Villar
- Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga y Fundación Cardioinfantil—Instituto de Cardiología, Colombia
| | - Janine M. Ramsey
- Centro Regional de Investigación en Salud Pública, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Tapachula, México
| | - Melissa S. Nolan
- Laboratory of Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | | | - Norival Kesper
- LIM-49, Hospital das Clínicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São 33 Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Jaime Altcheh
- Hospital de Niños “Ricardo Gutierrez”, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigaciones en Patologías Pediátricas (IMIPP)–GCBA-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Carlos Robello
- Laboratorio de Interacciones Hospedero-Patógeno, Unidad de Biología Molecular, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Carlos A. Buscaglia
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas (IIB)–Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), B1650HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Escuela de Bio y Nanotecnologías (EByN), Universidad de San Martín (UNSAM), San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Fernán Agüero
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas (IIB)–Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), B1650HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Escuela de Bio y Nanotecnologías (EByN), Universidad de San Martín (UNSAM), San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Candia-Puma MA, Machaca-Luque LY, Roque-Pumahuanca BM, Galdino AS, Giunchetti RC, Coelho EAF, Chávez-Fumagalli MA. Accuracy of Diagnostic Tests for the Detection of Chagas Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Diagnostics (Basel) 2022; 12:2752. [PMID: 36359595 PMCID: PMC9689806 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics12112752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Revised: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The present systematic review and meta-analysis about the accuracy of diagnostic tests aim to describe the findings of literature over the last thirty years for the diagnosis of Chagas disease (CD). This work aimed to determine the accuracy of diagnostic techniques for CD in the disease's acute and chronic phases. The PubMed database was searched for studies published between 1990 and 2021 on CD diagnostics. Fifty-six published studies that met the criteria were analyzed and included in the meta-analysis, evaluating diagnostic accuracy through sensitivity and specificity. For Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), Fluorescent Antibody Technique (IFAT), Hemagglutination Test (HmT), Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) diagnosis methods, the sensitivity had a median of 99.0%, 78.0%, 75.0%, 76.0%, and 94.0%, respectively; while specificity presented a median of 99.0%, 99.0%, 99.0%, 98.0%, and 98.0%, respectively. This meta-analysis showed that ELISA and qPCR techniques had a higher performance compared to other methods of diagnosing CD in the chronic and acute phases, respectively. It was concluded utilizing the Area Under the Curve restricted to the false positive rates (AUCFPR), that the ELISA diagnostic test presents the highest performance in diagnosing acute and chronic CD, compared to serological and molecular tests. Future studies focusing on new CD diagnostics approaches should be targeted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mayron Antonio Candia-Puma
- Computational Biology and Chemistry Research Group, Vicerrectorado de Investigación, Universidad Católica de Santa María, Arequipa 04000, Peru
- Facultad de Ciencias Farmacéuticas, Bioquímicas y Biotecnológicas, Universidad Católica de Santa María, Arequipa 04000, Peru
| | - Laura Yesenia Machaca-Luque
- Computational Biology and Chemistry Research Group, Vicerrectorado de Investigación, Universidad Católica de Santa María, Arequipa 04000, Peru
- Facultad de Ciencias Farmacéuticas, Bioquímicas y Biotecnológicas, Universidad Católica de Santa María, Arequipa 04000, Peru
| | - Brychs Milagros Roque-Pumahuanca
- Computational Biology and Chemistry Research Group, Vicerrectorado de Investigación, Universidad Católica de Santa María, Arequipa 04000, Peru
- Facultad de Ciencias Farmacéuticas, Bioquímicas y Biotecnológicas, Universidad Católica de Santa María, Arequipa 04000, Peru
| | - Alexsandro Sobreira Galdino
- Laboratório de Biotecnologia de Microrganismos, Universidade Federal São João Del-Rei, Divinópolis 35501-296, MG, Brazil
| | - Rodolfo Cordeiro Giunchetti
- Laboratório de Biologia das Interações Celulares, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, MG, Brazil
- Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Doenças Tropicais, INCT-DT, Salvador 40015-970, BA, Brazil
| | - Eduardo Antonio Ferraz Coelho
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde, Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, MG, Brazil
- Departamento de Patologia Clínica, COLTEC, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, MG, Brazil
| | - Miguel Angel Chávez-Fumagalli
- Computational Biology and Chemistry Research Group, Vicerrectorado de Investigación, Universidad Católica de Santa María, Arequipa 04000, Peru
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Vaccine Design against Chagas Disease Focused on the Use of Nucleic Acids. Vaccines (Basel) 2022; 10:vaccines10040587. [PMID: 35455336 PMCID: PMC9028413 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines10040587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Revised: 04/02/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi and is endemic to Central and South America. However, it has spread around the world and affects several million people. Treatment with currently available drugs cause several side effects and require long treatment times to eliminate the parasite, however, this does not improve the chronic effects of the disease such as cardiomyopathy. A therapeutic vaccine for Chagas disease may be able to prevent the disease and improve the chronic effects such as cardiomyopathy. This vaccine would be beneficial for both infected people and those which are at risk in endemic and non-endemic areas. In this article, we will review the surface antigens of T. cruzi, in order to choose those that are most antigenic and least variable, to design effective vaccines against the etiological agent of Chagas disease. Also, we discuss aspects of the design of nucleic acid-based vaccines, which have been developed and proven to be effective against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The role of co-adjuvants and delivery carriers is also discussed. We present an example of a chimeric trivalent vaccine, based on experimental work, which can be used to design a vaccine against Chagas disease.
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Rodrigues ES, Santos GQ, da Silva MV, Barros JHS, Bernardo AR, Diniz RL, Rubim NM, Roque ALR, Jansen AM, Silva ED, Xavier SCC. Chagas Immunochromatographic Rapid Test in the Serological Diagnosis of Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in Wild and Domestic Canids. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2022; 12:835383. [PMID: 35273924 PMCID: PMC8902141 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.835383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Canis lupus familiaris (domestic dog) represents a reliable sentinel for the occurrence of a well-established transmission cycle of Trypanosoma cruzi among wild mammals in the surroundings and, consequently, where the risk of human infection exists. Serological diagnosis is the chosen method to identify T. cruzi infection in dogs that, in Brazil, rarely present positive parasitological tests. The use of recombinant chimeric parasitic antigens results in a sensitive and specific serological diagnostic test in contrast to the use of crude T. cruzi antigens. Our objective was to evaluate the Chagas/Bio-Manguinhos Lateral Flow Immunochromatographic Rapid Test (Chagas-LFRT) for the diagnosis of T. cruzi infection in domestic dogs and the potential of application of this diagnostic platform to wild canid species. Two recombinant proteins (IBMP-8.1 and IBMP-8.4) that displayed the best performance in the enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) in previous studies were tested in a platform with two diagnostic bands. A panel of 281 dog serum samples was evaluated: 133 positive for T. cruzi by serological diagnosis, including 20 samples with positive blood cultures belonging to different discrete typing units (DTUs); 129 negative samples; and 19 samples from dogs infected by other trypanosomatids: Leishmania infantum, Trypanosoma rangeli, Trypanosoma caninum and Crithidia mellificae, in addition to samples infected by Anaplasma platys, Dirofilaria immitis and Erlichia sp. that were employed to evaluate eventual cross-reactions. We also evaluated the Chagas-LFRT to detect T. cruzi infection in 9 serum samples from six wild canid species. We observed that the intensity pattern of the bands was directly proportional to the serological titer observed in IFAT. The sensitivity was 94%, the specificity was 91% according to the ROC curve, and the defined cutoff was an optical density of 4.8. The agreement obtained was considered substantial by the kappa analysis (84%). From T. cruzi positive hemoculture samples, 88.9% were positive by Chagas-LFRT. The test was efficient in recognizing infections by five of the six T. cruzi DTUs. Cross-reactions were not observed in infections by L. infantum, T. rangeli, T. caninum and D. immitis; however, they were observed in sera of dogs infected by Crithidia mellificae, Anaplasma sp. and Erlichia sp. A strong reaction was observed when serum samples from wild canids were submitted to the Protein A affinity test, confirming its applicability for these species. This test will allow rapid preventive actions in areas with high risk to the emergence of Chagas disease in a safer, reliable, low-cost and immediate manner, without the need for more complex laboratory tests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esthefany S. Rodrigues
- Laboratory of Tripanosomatid Biology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Institutional Program for Initiation Scholarships in Technological Development and Innovation, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Gilbert Q. Santos
- Pedagogical Coordination Section, Army Complementary Training School and Salvador Military College, EsFCEx, Salvador, Brazil
| | - Marlon Vicente da Silva
- Laboratory of Tripanosomatid Biology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Juliana H. S. Barros
- Laboratory of Tripanosomatid Biology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Aline R. Bernardo
- Diagnostic Technology Laboratory, Immunobiological Technology Institute (Bio-Manguinhos), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Rafaela L. Diniz
- Diagnostic Technology Laboratory, Immunobiological Technology Institute (Bio-Manguinhos), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Nara M. Rubim
- Diagnostic Technology Laboratory, Immunobiological Technology Institute (Bio-Manguinhos), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - André L. R. Roque
- Laboratory of Tripanosomatid Biology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Chagas Disease Translational Research Program, Fio-Chagas, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Ana Maria Jansen
- Laboratory of Tripanosomatid Biology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Edimilson D. Silva
- Diagnostic Technology Laboratory, Immunobiological Technology Institute (Bio-Manguinhos), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Samanta C. C. Xavier
- Laboratory of Tripanosomatid Biology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Chagas Disease Translational Research Program, Fio-Chagas, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- *Correspondence: Samanta C. C. Xavier,
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8
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Alonso-Vega C, Urbina JA, Sanz S, Pinazo MJ, Pinto JJ, Gonzalez VR, Rojas G, Ortiz L, Garcia W, Lozano D, Soy D, Maldonado RA, Nagarkatti R, Debrabant A, Schijman A, Thomas MC, López MC, Michael K, Ribeiro I, Gascon J, Torrico F, Almeida IC. New chemotherapy regimens and biomarkers for Chagas disease: the rationale and design of the TESEO study, an open-label, randomised, prospective, phase-2 clinical trial in the Plurinational State of Bolivia. BMJ Open 2021; 11:e052897. [PMID: 34972765 PMCID: PMC8720984 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Chagas disease (CD) affects ~7 million people worldwide. Benznidazole (BZN) and nifurtimox (NFX) are the only approved drugs for CD chemotherapy. Although both drugs are highly effective in acute and paediatric infections, their efficacy in adults with chronic CD (CCD) is lower and variable. Moreover, the high incidence of adverse events (AEs) with both drugs has hampered their widespread use. Trials in CCD adults showed that quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays remain negative for 12 months after standard-of-care (SoC) BZN treatment in ~80% patients. BZN pharmacokinetic data and the nonsynchronous nature of the proliferative mammal-dwelling parasite stage suggested that a lower BZN/NFX dosing frequency, combined with standard or extended treatment duration, might have the same or better efficacy than either drug SoC, with fewer AEs. METHODS AND ANALYSIS New ThErapies and Biomarkers for ChagaS infEctiOn (TESEO) is an open-label, randomised, prospective, phase-2 clinical trial, with six treatment arms (75 patients/arm, 450 patients). Primary objectives are to compare the safety and efficacy of two new proposed chemotherapy regimens of BZN and NFX in adults with CCD with the current SoC for BZN and NFX, evaluated by qPCR and biomarkers for 36 months posttreatment and correlated with CD conventional serology. Recruitment of patients was initiated on 18 December 2019 and on 20 May 2021, 450 patients (study goal) were randomised among the six treatment arms. The treatment phase was finalised on 18 August 2021. Secondary objectives include evaluation of population pharmacokinetics of both drugs in all treatment arms, the incidence of AEs, and parasite genotyping. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION The TESEO study was approved by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), federal regulatory agency of the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the Ethics Committees of the participating institutions. The results will be disseminated via publications in peer-reviewed journals, conferences and reports to the NIH, FDA and participating institutions. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER NCT03981523.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Julio A Urbina
- Center for Biochemistry and Biophysics, Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), Caracas, Distrito Capital, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
| | - Sergi Sanz
- Biostatistics and Data Management Unit, Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Barcelona, Spain
- Consorcio de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
- Department of Basic Clinical Practice, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - María-Jesús Pinazo
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGLOBAL), Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Jimy José Pinto
- Fundación Ciencia y Estudios Aplicados para el Desarrollo en Salud y Medio Ambiente (CEADES), Cochabamba, Bolivia, Plurinational State of
| | - Virginia R Gonzalez
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA
| | - Gimena Rojas
- Fundación Ciencia y Estudios Aplicados para el Desarrollo en Salud y Medio Ambiente (CEADES), Cochabamba, Bolivia, Plurinational State of
| | - Lourdes Ortiz
- Fundación Ciencia y Estudios Aplicados para el Desarrollo en Salud y Medio Ambiente (CEADES), Tarija, Bolivia, Plurinational State of
- Universidad Autónoma Juan Misael Saracho, Tarija, Bolivia, Plurinational State of
| | - Wilson Garcia
- Centro Plataforma Chagas Sucre, Fundación Ciencia y Estudios Aplicados para el Desarrollo en Salud y Medio Ambiente (CEADES), Sucre, Bolivia, Plurinational State of
- Programa Departamental de Chagas Chuquisaca, Servicio Departamental de Salud de Chuquisaca, Chuquisaca, Bolivia, Plurinational State of
| | - Daniel Lozano
- Fundación Ciencia y Estudios Aplicados para el Desarrollo en Salud y Medio Ambiente (CEADES), Cochabamba, Bolivia, Plurinational State of
| | - Dolors Soy
- Pharmacy Service, Division of Medicines, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Investigació Biomèdica Agustí Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Rosa A Maldonado
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA
| | - Rana Nagarkatti
- Division of Emerging and Transfusion Transmitted Diseases, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
| | - Alain Debrabant
- Division of Emerging and Transfusion Transmitted Diseases, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
| | - Alejandro Schijman
- Laboratorio de Biología Molecular de la Enfermedad de Chagas, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - M Carmen Thomas
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto de Parasitología y Biomedicina López-Neyra, Granada, Spain
| | - Manuel Carlos López
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto de Parasitología y Biomedicina López-Neyra, Granada, Spain
| | - Katja Michael
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA
| | - Isabela Ribeiro
- Dynamic Portfolio Unit, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Joaquim Gascon
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGLOBAL), Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Faustino Torrico
- Fundación Ciencia y Estudios Aplicados para el Desarrollo en Salud y Medio Ambiente (CEADES), Cochabamba, Bolivia, Plurinational State of
| | - Igor C Almeida
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA
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9
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Serological Approaches for Trypanosoma cruzi Strain Typing. Trends Parasitol 2021; 37:214-225. [PMID: 33436314 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2020.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2020] [Revised: 12/04/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan agent of Chagas' disease, displays a complex population structure made up of multiple strains showing a diverse ecoepidemiological distribution. Parasite genetic variability may be associated with disease outcome, hence stressing the need to develop methods for T. cruzi typing in vivo. Serological typing methods that exploit the presence of host antibodies raised against polymorphic parasite antigens emerge as an appealing approach to address this issue. These techniques are robust, simple, cost-effective, and are not curtailed by methodological/biological limitations intrinsic to available genotyping methods. Here, we critically assess the progress towards T. cruzi serotyping and discuss the opportunity provided by high-throughput immunomics to improve this field.
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10
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Pinzón Martín S, Seeberger PH, Varón Silva D. Mucins and Pathogenic Mucin-Like Molecules Are Immunomodulators During Infection and Targets for Diagnostics and Vaccines. Front Chem 2019; 7:710. [PMID: 31696111 PMCID: PMC6817596 DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2019.00710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Mucins and mucin-like molecules are highly O-glycosylated proteins present on the cell surface of mammals and other organisms. These glycoproteins are highly diverse in the apoprotein and glycan cores and play a central role in many biological processes and diseases. Mucins are the most abundant macromolecules in mucus and are responsible for its biochemical and biophysical properties. Mucin-like molecules cover various protozoan parasites, fungi and viruses. In humans, modifications in mucin glycosylation are associated with tumors in epithelial tissue. These modifications allow the distinction between normal and abnormal cell conditions and represent important targets for vaccine development against some cancers. Mucins and mucin-like molecules derived from pathogens are potential diagnostic markers and targets for therapeutic agents. In this review, we summarize the distribution, structure, role as immunomodulators, and the correlation of human mucins with diseases and perform a comparative analysis of mucins with mucin-like molecules present in human pathogens. Furthermore, we review the methods to produce pathogenic and human mucins using chemical synthesis and expression systems. Finally, we present applications of mucin-like molecules in diagnosis and prevention of relevant human diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Pinzón Martín
- Department of Biomolecular Systems, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany.,Department of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Peter H Seeberger
- Department of Biomolecular Systems, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany.,Department of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Daniel Varón Silva
- Department of Biomolecular Systems, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany.,Department of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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11
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Cross-Reactivity Using Chimeric Trypanosoma cruzi Antigens: Diagnostic Performance in Settings Where Chagas Disease and American Cutaneous or Visceral Leishmaniasis Are Coendemic. J Clin Microbiol 2019; 57:JCM.00762-19. [PMID: 31189586 PMCID: PMC6663885 DOI: 10.1128/jcm.00762-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2019] [Accepted: 06/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Chimeric T. cruzi antigens have been proposed as a diagnostic tool for chronic Chagas disease (CD) in both settings where Chagas disease is endemic and those where it is not endemic. Antibody response varies in accordance to each T. cruzi strain, presenting challenges to the use of antigens lacking demonstrated cross-reactivity with Leishmania spp. Chimeric T. cruzi antigens have been proposed as a diagnostic tool for chronic Chagas disease (CD) in both settings where Chagas disease is endemic and those where it is not endemic. Antibody response varies in accordance to each T. cruzi strain, presenting challenges to the use of antigens lacking demonstrated cross-reactivity with Leishmania spp. Our group expressed four chimeric proteins (IBMP-8.1, IBMP-8.2, IBMP-8.3, and IBMP-8.4) and previously assessed their diagnostic performance to determine cross-reactivity with Leishmania spp. Here, we validated our findings using serum samples from different Brazilian geographic areas reporting endemic Chagas disease, endemic visceral or American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL), or both. Overall, 829 serum samples were evaluated using commercial and IBMP enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Due to the absence of a reference assay to diagnosis CD, latent class analysis (LCA) was performed through the use of a statistical model. The incidence of cross-reactivity for ACL-positive samples varied from 0.35% (IBMP-8.3) to 0.70% (IBMP-8.1 and IBMP-8.2). Regarding visceral leishmaniasis (VL)-positive samples, the IBMP-8.2 and IBMP-8.3 antigens cross-reacted with six (3.49%) and with only one sample (0.58%), respectively. No cross-reactivity with either ACL or VL was observed for the IBMP-8.4 antigen. Similarly, no cross-reactions were found when VL-positive samples were assayed with IBMP-8.1. The agreement among the results obtained using IBMP antigens ranged from 97.3% for IBMP-8.2 and 99% for IBMP-8.1 and IBMP-8.3 to 100% for IBMP-8.4, demonstrating almost perfect agreement with LCA. Accordingly, in light of the negligible cross-reactivity with both ACL and VL, we suggest the use of IBMP antigens in regions where T. cruzi and Leishmania spp. are coendemic.
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12
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Synthesis and characterization of α-d-Galp-(1 → 3)-β-d-Galp epitope-containing neoglycoconjugates for chagas disease serodiagnosis. Carbohydr Res 2019; 478:58-67. [PMID: 31096122 DOI: 10.1016/j.carres.2019.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2019] [Revised: 04/18/2019] [Accepted: 04/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The immunodominant epitope α-d-Galp-(1 → 3)-β-d-Galp-(1 → 4)-d-GlcNAc, expressed in the mucins of the infective trypomastigote stage of Trypanosoma cruzi has been proposed for multiple clinical applications, from serodiagnosis of protozoan caused diseases to xenotransplantation or cancer vaccinology. It was previously shown that the analogue trisaccharide, with glucose in the reducing end instead of GlcNAc, was as efficient as the natural trisaccharide for recognition of chagasic antibodies. Here we describe the synthesis of α-d-Galp-(1 → 3)-β-d-Galp-(1 → 4)-d-Glcp functionalized as the 6-aminohexyl glycoside and its conjugation to BSA using the squarate method. The conjugate of 6-aminohexyl α-d-Galp-(1 → 3)-β-d-Galp was also prepared. Both neoglycoconjugates were recognized by serum samples of Trypanosoma cruzi-infected individuals and thus, are promising tools for the improvement of Chagas disease diagnostic applications.
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13
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Ferrer MJ, Wehrendt DP, Bonilla M, Comini MA, Tellez-Iñón MT, Potenza M. Production of Recombinant Trypanosoma cruzi Antigens in Leishmania tarentolae. Methods Mol Biol 2019; 1955:105-118. [PMID: 30868522 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9148-8_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Trypanosomatids are unicellular organisms that colonize a wide diversity of environments and hosts. For instance, Trypanosoma cruzi is a human pathogen responsible for Chagas diseases, while Leishmania tarentolae infects amphibians and became a biotechnological tool suitable for recombinant protein expression. T. cruzi antigens are needed for the development of improved epitope-based methods for diagnosis and treatment of Chagas disease. Molecular cloning for the production of recombinant proteins offers the possibility to obtain T. cruzi antigens at high yield and purity. L. tarentolae appears as the ideal expression host to obtain recombinant T. cruzi antigens with a structure and posttranslational modifications typical of trypanosomatids. In this chapter, we present a protocol for the analytical to mid-scale production of recombinant T. cruzi antigens, using L. tarentolae as expression host (LEXSY® inducible system).
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Affiliation(s)
- María José Ferrer
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, "Dr. Héctor Torres" (INGEBI-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Diana Patricia Wehrendt
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, "Dr. Héctor Torres" (INGEBI-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Mariana Bonilla
- Group Redox Biology of Trypanosomes, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Marcelo Alberto Comini
- Group Redox Biology of Trypanosomes, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - María Teresa Tellez-Iñón
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, "Dr. Héctor Torres" (INGEBI-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Mariana Potenza
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, "Dr. Héctor Torres" (INGEBI-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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14
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Elisei RMT, Matos CS, Carvalho AMRS, Chaves AT, Medeiros FAC, Barbosa R, Marcelino AP, Dos Santos Emidio K, Coelho EAF, Duarte MC, de Oliveira Mendes TA, da Costa Rocha MO, Menezes-Souza D. Immunogenomic screening approach to identify new antigens for the serological diagnosis of chronic Chagas' disease. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2018; 102:6069-6080. [PMID: 29736822 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-018-8992-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2018] [Revised: 04/03/2018] [Accepted: 04/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Serological tests are preferentially used for the diagnosis of Chagas' disease (CD) during the chronic phase because of the low parasitemia and high anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibody titers. However, the current methods showed several disadvantages, as contradictory or inconclusive results, mainly related to the characteristics of the antigens used, in general, crude or whole parasites, but also due to antigen production protocol and the experimental conditions used in serological tests. Thus, better-quality serological assays are urgently needed. Here, we performed a wide immunogenomic screen strategy to identify conserved linear B-cell epitopes in the predicted proteome based on genome sequence from T. cruzi strains to will be applied as synthetic peptides in the serodiagnosis of the chronic CD. Three B-cell epitopes derived from mucin-associated surface protein (MASP) family, expressed in both infective parasite stages, trypomastigote and amastigotes, conserved in T. cruzi strains, and highly divergent as compared with Leishmania spp. proteome, were selected for this study. The results demonstrated that synthetic peptide 2 and a mixture of peptides (Mix II: peptides 2 and 3) were able to identify all chronic CD cases, indeterminate or Chagas cardiomyopathy clinical presentation, and simultaneously able to discriminate infections caused by Leishmania parasites, with high accuracy (98.37 and 100.00%, respectively) and agreement (kappa index = 0.967 and 1.000, respectively) with direct methods as compared to current diagnostic pipeline performed by reference laboratories in Brazil. This study represents an interesting strategy for the discovery of new antigens applied to serologic diagnosis of infectious diseases and for the technological development of platforms for large-scale production of diagnostic tests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rutyanne Maria Tonelli Elisei
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde: Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Christiane Santos Matos
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde: Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Ana Maria Ravena Severino Carvalho
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde: Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Ana Thereza Chaves
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde: Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | | | - Ronaldo Barbosa
- Serviço de Doenças Parasitárias, Instituto Octávio Magalhães, Fundação Ezequiel Dias (FUNED), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Andreza Pain Marcelino
- Serviço de Doenças Parasitárias, Instituto Octávio Magalhães, Fundação Ezequiel Dias (FUNED), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Kenia Dos Santos Emidio
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde: Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Eduardo Antonio Ferraz Coelho
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde: Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.,Departamento de Patologia Clínica, COLTEC, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Mariana Costa Duarte
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde: Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.,Departamento de Patologia Clínica, COLTEC, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | | | - Manoel Otávio da Costa Rocha
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde: Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Daniel Menezes-Souza
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde: Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. .,Departamento de Patologia Clínica, COLTEC, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
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15
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Evaluation of the Elecsys Chagas Assay for Detection of Trypanosoma cruzi-Specific Antibodies in a Multicenter Study in Europe and Latin America. J Clin Microbiol 2018; 56:JCM.01446-17. [PMID: 29444836 PMCID: PMC5925710 DOI: 10.1128/jcm.01446-17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2017] [Accepted: 02/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Serology is the preferred method to confirm a Chagas disease diagnosis and to screen blood donors. A battery of assays is often required due to the limited accuracy of single assays. The Elecsys Chagas assay is a newly developed, double-antigen sandwich assay for use on the Elecsys and cobas e immunoassay analyzers, intended to identify individuals infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, for diagnosis and screening. The performance of the Elecsys Chagas assay was evaluated in comparison with those of other widely used T. cruzi antibody assays, at multiple sites (Europe/Latin America). Relative sensitivity and specificity were assessed by using samples from blood donors, pregnant women, and hospitalized patients from regions where Chagas disease is endemic and from regions of nonendemicity. The Elecsys Chagas assay had an overall relative sensitivity of 100% (n = 674). Overall relative specificities were 99.90% (n = 14,681), 100% (n = 313), and 100% (n = 517) for samples from blood donors, pregnant women, and hospitalized patients, respectively. The analytical specificity was 99.83% (n = 594). The Elecsys Chagas assay detected T. cruzi antibodies in two World Health Organization (WHO) standard T. cruzi reference panels (panels 09/188 and 09/186) at a 1:512 dilution, corresponding to a cutoff sensitivity of approximately 1 mIU/ml. The Elecsys Chagas assay demonstrated robust performance under routine conditions at multiple sites in Europe and Latin America. In contrast to other available Chagas assays, the Elecsys assay uses a reduced number of recombinant T. cruzi antigens, resulting in a significantly smaller number of cross-reactions and improved analytical specificity while being highly sensitive.
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Development and assessment of an improved recombinant multiepitope antigen-based immunoassay to diagnose chronic Chagas disease. Parasitology 2018; 145:1594-1599. [PMID: 29587896 DOI: 10.1017/s0031182018000458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The use of chimeric molecules fusing several antigenic determinants is a promising strategy for the development of low-cost, standardized and reliable kits to determine specific antibodies. In this study, we designed and assessed a novel recombinant chimera that complements the performance of our previously developed chimera, CP1 [FRA and SAPA antigens (Ags)], to diagnose chronic Chagas disease. The new chimeric protein, named CP3, is composed of MAP, TcD and TSSAII/V/VI antigenic determinants. We compared the performance of both chimeric Ags using a panel of 67 Trypanosoma cruzi-reactive sera and 67 non-reactive ones. The sensitivity of CP3 vs CP1 was 100 and 90.2%, and specificity was 92.5 and 100%, respectively. The mixture of CP1 + CP3 achieved 100% of sensitivity and specificity. More importantly, an additional subset of 17 sera from patients with discordant results of conventional serological methods was analysed; the CP1 + CP3 mixture allowed us to accurately classify 14 of them with respect to IIF, the usual technique used in most of the reference centres. These results show an improved performance of the CP1 + CP3 mixture in comparison with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and indirect haemagglutination commercial assays.
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The Trypomastigote Small Surface Antigen from Trypanosoma cruzi Improves Treatment Evaluation and Diagnosis in Pediatric Chagas Disease. J Clin Microbiol 2017; 55:3444-3453. [PMID: 28978686 DOI: 10.1128/jcm.01317-17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2017] [Accepted: 09/27/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi Assessment of parasitological cure upon treatment with available drugs relies on achieving consistent negative results in conventional parasitological and serological tests, which may take years to assess. Here, we evaluated the use of a recombinant T. cruzi antigen termed trypomastigote small surface antigen (TSSA) as an early serological marker of drug efficacy in T. cruzi-infected children. A cohort of 78 pediatric patients born to T. cruzi-infected mothers was included in this study. Only 39 of the children were infected with T. cruzi, and they were immediately treated with trypanocidal drugs. Serological responses against TSSA were evaluated in infected and noninfected populations during the follow-up period using an in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and compared to conventional serological methods. Anti-TSSA antibody titers decreased significantly faster than anti-whole parasite antibodies detected by conventional serology both in T. cruzi-infected patients undergoing effective treatment and in those not infected. The differential kinetics allowed a significant reduction in the required follow-up periods to evaluate therapeutic responses or to rule out maternal-fetal transmission. Finally, we present the case of a congenitally infected patient with an atypical course in whom TSSA provided an early marker for T. cruzi infection. In conclusion, we showed that TSSA was efficacious both for rapid assessment of treatment efficiency and for early negative diagnosis in infants at risk of congenital T. cruzi infection. Based upon these findings we propose the inclusion of TSSA for refining the posttherapeutic cure criterion and other diagnostic needs in pediatric Chagas disease.
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Durante IM, La Spina PE, Carmona SJ, Agüero F, Buscaglia CA. High-resolution profiling of linear B-cell epitopes from mucin-associated surface proteins (MASPs) of Trypanosoma cruzi during human infections. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2017; 11:e0005986. [PMID: 28961244 PMCID: PMC5636173 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2017] [Revised: 10/11/2017] [Accepted: 09/21/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Trypanosoma cruzi genome bears a huge family of genes and pseudogenes coding for Mucin-Associated Surface Proteins (MASPs). MASP molecules display a 'mosaic' structure, with highly conserved flanking regions and a strikingly variable central and mature domain made up of different combinations of a large repertoire of short sequence motifs. MASP molecules are highly expressed in mammal-dwelling stages of T. cruzi and may be involved in parasite-host interactions and/or in diverting the immune response. METHODS/PRINCIPLE FINDINGS High-density microarrays composed of fully overlapped 15mer peptides spanning the entire sequences of 232 non-redundant MASPs (~25% of the total MASP content) were screened with chronic Chagasic sera. This strategy led to the identification of 86 antigenic motifs, each one likely representing a single linear B-cell epitope, which were mapped to 69 different MASPs. These motifs could be further grouped into 31 clusters of structurally- and likely antigenically-related sequences, and fully characterized. In contrast to previous reports, we show that MASP antigenic motifs are restricted to the central and mature region of MASP polypeptides, consistent with their intracellular processing. The antigenicity of these motifs displayed significant positive correlation with their genome dosage and their relative position within the MASP polypeptide. In addition, we verified the biased genetic co-occurrence of certain antigenic motifs within MASP polypeptides, compatible with proposed intra-family recombination events underlying the evolution of their coding genes. Sequences spanning 7 MASP antigenic motifs were further evaluated using distinct synthesis/display approaches and a large panel of serum samples. Overall, the serological recognition of MASP antigenic motifs exhibited a remarkable non normal distribution among the T. cruzi seropositive population, thus reducing their applicability in conventional serodiagnosis. As previously observed in in vitro and animal infection models, immune signatures supported the concurrent expression of several MASPs during human infection. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE In spite of their conspicuous expression and potential roles in parasite biology, this study constitutes the first unbiased, high-resolution profiling of linear B-cell epitopes from T. cruzi MASPs during human infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignacio M. Durante
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Pablo E. La Spina
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Santiago J. Carmona
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Fernán Agüero
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); Buenos Aires, Argentina
- * E-mail: (FA); (CAB)
| | - Carlos A. Buscaglia
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); Buenos Aires, Argentina
- * E-mail: (FA); (CAB)
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Cámara MDLM, Cánepa GE, Lantos AB, Balouz V, Yu H, Chen X, Campetella O, Mucci J, Buscaglia CA. The Trypomastigote Small Surface Antigen (TSSA) regulates Trypanosoma cruzi infectivity and differentiation. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2017; 11:e0005856. [PMID: 28800609 PMCID: PMC5568413 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2017] [Revised: 08/23/2017] [Accepted: 08/05/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Background TSSA (Trypomastigote Small Surface Antigen) is an antigenic, adhesion molecule displayed on the surface of Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes. TSSA displays substantial sequence identity to members of the TcMUC gene family, which code for the trypomastigote mucins (tGPI-mucins). In addition, TSSA bears sequence polymorphisms among parasite strains; and two TSSA variants expressed as recombinant molecules (termed TSSA-CL and TSSA-Sy) were shown to exhibit contrasting features in their host cell binding and signaling properties. Methods/Principle findings Here we used a variety of approaches to get insights into TSSA structure/function. We show that at variance with tGPI-mucins, which rely on their extensive O-glycoslylation to achieve their protective function, TSSA seems to be displayed on the trypomastigote coat as a hypo-glycosylated molecule. This has a functional correlate, as further deletion mapping experiments and cell binding assays indicated that exposition of at least two peptidic motifs is critical for the engagement of the ‘adhesive’ TSSA variant (TSSA-CL) with host cell surface receptor(s) prior to trypomastigote internalization. These motifs are not conserved in the ‘non-adhesive’ TSSA-Sy variant. We next developed transgenic lines over-expressing either TSSA variant in different parasite backgrounds. In strict accordance to recombinant protein binding data, trypomastigotes over-expressing TSSA-CL displayed improved adhesion and infectivity towards non-macrophagic cell lines as compared to those over-expressing TSSA-Sy or parental lines. These phenotypes could be specifically counteracted by exogenous addition of peptides spanning the TSSA-CL adhesion motifs. In addition, and irrespective of the TSSA variant, over-expression of this molecule leads to an enhanced trypomastigote-to-amastigote conversion, indicating a possible role of TSSA also in parasite differentiation. Conclusion/Significance In this study we provided novel evidence indicating that TSSA plays an important role not only on the infectivity and differentiation of T. cruzi trypomastigotes but also on the phenotypic variability displayed by parasite strains. Infection with Trypanosoma cruzi produces a chronic and debilitating infectious disease known as Chagas disease, of major significance in Latin America and an emergent threat to global public health. In the absence of vaccines and/or appropriate chemotherapies, the search for parasite effectors that support infection of mammalian cells is a focus of significant interest. One such candidate is the Trypomastigote Small Surface Antigen (TSSA), a polymorphic molecule expressed on the surface coat of infective trypomastigote forms. Previous data indicated that recombinant versions of two different TSSA variants (termed TSSA-CL and TSSA-Sy) encoded by parasite strains belonging to extant phylogenetic groups exhibited contrasting host cell binding and signaling abilities. Here, we generated genetically modified strains of T. cruzi over-expressing different TSSAs to address this issue. Trypomastigotes over-expressing TSSA-CL, the ‘adhesive variant’, displayed improved adhesion and infectivity towards non-macrophagic cell lines as compared to those over-expressing TSSA-Sy or parental lines. In addition, and irrespective of the protein variant, TSSA over-expression enhanced trypomastigote-to-amastigote conversion. Overall, our data strongly suggest that TSSA plays an important role not only on the infectivity and differentiation of T. cruzi trypomastigotes but also on the phenotypic variability displayed by different strains of this parasite. These data, together with the fact that TSSA recalls a strong and likely protective humoral response during human infections, support this molecule as an excellent candidate for molecular intervention and/or vaccine development in Chagas disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- María de los Milagros Cámara
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Instituto de Tecnología, Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Gaspar E. Cánepa
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Andrés B. Lantos
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Virginia Balouz
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Hai Yu
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Xi Chen
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Oscar Campetella
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Juan Mucci
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Carlos A. Buscaglia
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECh), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- * E-mail:
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Pech-Canul ÁDLC, Monteón V, Solís-Oviedo RL. A Brief View of the Surface Membrane Proteins from Trypanosoma cruzi. J Parasitol Res 2017; 2017:3751403. [PMID: 28656101 PMCID: PMC5474541 DOI: 10.1155/2017/3751403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2017] [Revised: 03/31/2017] [Accepted: 04/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Trypanosoma cruzi is the causal agent of Chagas' disease which affects millions of people around the world mostly in Central and South America. T. cruzi expresses a wide variety of proteins on its surface membrane which has an important role in the biology of these parasites. Surface molecules of the parasites are the result of the environment to which the parasites are exposed during their life cycle. Hence, T. cruzi displays several modifications when they move from one host to another. Due to the complexity of this parasite's cell surface, this review presents some membrane proteins organized as large families, as they are the most abundant and/or relevant throughout the T. cruzi membrane.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ángel de la Cruz Pech-Canul
- Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, The University of Nottingham, University Park, University Blvd, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
| | - Victor Monteón
- Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, Av. Patricio Trueba s/n, Col. Lindavista, 24039 Campeche, CAM, Mexico
| | - Rosa-Lidia Solís-Oviedo
- Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, The University of Nottingham, University Park, University Blvd, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
- Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, Av. Patricio Trueba s/n, Col. Lindavista, 24039 Campeche, CAM, Mexico
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Brito CRN, McKay CS, Azevedo MA, Santos LCB, Venuto AP, Nunes DF, D’Ávila DA, Rodrigues da Cunha GM, Almeida IC, Gazzinelli RT, Galvão LMC, Chiari E, Sanhueza CA, Finn MG, Marques AF. Virus-like Particle Display of the α-Gal Epitope for the Diagnostic Assessment of Chagas Disease. ACS Infect Dis 2016; 2:917-922. [PMID: 27696820 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.6b00114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
The α-Gal antigen [Galα(1,3)Galβ(1,4)GlcNAcα] is an immunodominant epitope displayed by infective trypomastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. A virus-like particle displaying a high density of α-Gal was found to be a superior reagent for the ELISA-based serological diagnosis of Chagas disease and the assessment of treatment effectiveness. A panel of sera from patients chronically infected with T. cruzi, both untreated and benznidazole-treated, was compared with sera from patients with leishmaniasis and from healthy donors. The nanoparticle-α-Gal construct allowed for perfect discrimination between Chagas patients and the others, avoiding false negative and false positive results obtained with current state-of-the-art reagents. As previously reported with purified α-Gal-containing glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored mucins, the current study also showed concentrations of anti-α-Gal IgG to decrease substantially in patients receiving treatment with benznidazole, suggesting that the semiquantitative assessment of serum levels of this highly abundant type of antibody can report on disease status in individual patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Ramon Nascimento Brito
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Craig S. McKay
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Maíra Araújo Azevedo
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Luíza Costa Brandão Santos
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Ana Paula Venuto
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Daniela Ferreira Nunes
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Daniella Alchaar D’Ávila
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Gisele Macedo Rodrigues da Cunha
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Igor Correia Almeida
- Border Biomedical
Research Center, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79912, United States
| | - Ricardo Tostes Gazzinelli
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Lucia Maria Cunha Galvão
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Egler Chiari
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Carlos A. Sanhueza
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - M. G. Finn
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Alexandre Ferreira Marques
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
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Balouz V, Agüero F, Buscaglia CA. Chagas Disease Diagnostic Applications: Present Knowledge and Future Steps. ADVANCES IN PARASITOLOGY 2016; 97:1-45. [PMID: 28325368 PMCID: PMC5363286 DOI: 10.1016/bs.apar.2016.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is a lifelong and debilitating illness of major significance throughout Latin America and an emergent threat to global public health. Being a neglected disease, the vast majority of Chagasic patients have limited access to proper diagnosis and treatment, and there is only a marginal investment into R&D for drug and vaccine development. In this context, identification of novel biomarkers able to transcend the current limits of diagnostic methods surfaces as a main priority in Chagas disease applied research. The expectation is that these novel biomarkers will provide reliable, reproducible and accurate results irrespective of the genetic background, infecting parasite strain, stage of disease, and clinical-associated features of Chagasic populations. In addition, they should be able to address other still unmet diagnostic needs, including early detection of congenital T. cruzi transmission, rapid assessment of treatment efficiency or failure, indication/prediction of disease progression and direct parasite typification in clinical samples. The lack of access of poor and neglected populations to essential diagnostics also stresses the necessity of developing new methods operational in point-of-care settings. In summary, emergent diagnostic tests integrating these novel and tailored tools should provide a significant impact on the effectiveness of current intervention schemes and on the clinical management of Chagasic patients. In this chapter, we discuss the present knowledge and possible future steps in Chagas disease diagnostic applications, as well as the opportunity provided by recent advances in high-throughput methods for biomarker discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virginia Balouz
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), San Martín, B 1650 HMP, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Fernán Agüero
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), San Martín, B 1650 HMP, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Carlos A. Buscaglia
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), San Martín, B 1650 HMP, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Status of vaccine research and development of vaccines for Chagas disease. Vaccine 2016; 34:2996-3000. [DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.03.074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2015] [Accepted: 03/09/2016] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Abras A, Gállego M, Llovet T, Tebar S, Herrero M, Berenguer P, Ballart C, Martí C, Muñoz C. Serological Diagnosis of Chronic Chagas Disease: Is It Time for a Change? J Clin Microbiol 2016; 54:1566-1572. [PMID: 27053668 PMCID: PMC4879299 DOI: 10.1128/jcm.00142-16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2016] [Accepted: 03/18/2016] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Chagas disease has spread to areas that are nonendemic for the disease with human migration. Since no single reference standard test is available, serological diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease requires at least two tests. New-generation techniques have significantly improved the accuracy of Chagas disease diagnosis by the use of a large mixture of recombinant antigens with different detection systems, such as chemiluminescence. The aim of the present study was to assess the overall accuracy of a new-generation kit, the Architect Chagas (cutoff, ≥1 sample relative light units/cutoff value [S/CO]), as a single technique for the diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease. The Architect Chagas showed a sensitivity of 100% (95% confidence interval [CI], 99.5 to 100%) and a specificity of 97.6% (95% CI, 95.2 to 99.9%). Five out of six false-positive serum samples were a consequence of cross-reactivity with Leishmania spp., and all of them achieved results of <5 S/CO. We propose the Architect Chagas as a single technique for screening in blood banks and for routine diagnosis in clinical laboratories. Only gray-zone and positive sera with a result of ≤6 S/CO would need to be confirmed by a second serological assay, thus avoiding false-positive sera and the problem of cross-reactivity with Leishmania species. The application of this proposal would result in important savings in the cost of Chagas disease diagnosis and therefore in the management and control of the disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Abras
- Laboratori de Parasitologia, Departament de Microbiologia i Parasitologia Sanitàries, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- ISGlobal, Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Montserrat Gállego
- Laboratori de Parasitologia, Departament de Microbiologia i Parasitologia Sanitàries, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- ISGlobal, Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Teresa Llovet
- Servei de Microbiologia, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Silvia Tebar
- Laboratori de Parasitologia, Departament de Microbiologia i Parasitologia Sanitàries, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- ISGlobal, Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mercedes Herrero
- Servei de Microbiologia, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Pere Berenguer
- Servei de Microbiologia, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Cristina Ballart
- Laboratori de Parasitologia, Departament de Microbiologia i Parasitologia Sanitàries, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- ISGlobal, Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Carmen Martí
- Unitat de Microbiologia, Hospital General de Granollers, Granollers, Spain
| | - Carmen Muñoz
- Servei de Microbiologia, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
- Departament de Genètica i Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
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25
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Niborski LL, Grippo V, Lafón SO, Levitus G, García-Bournissen F, Ramirez JC, Burgos JM, Bisio M, Juiz NA, Ayala V, Coppede M, Herrera V, López C, Contreras A, Gómez KA, Elean JC, Mujica HD, Schijman AG, Levin MJ, Longhi SA. Serological based monitoring of a cohort of patients with chronic Chagas disease treated with benznidazole in a highly endemic area of northern Argentina. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2016; 111:365-71. [PMID: 27223650 PMCID: PMC4909034 DOI: 10.1590/0074-02760160006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2016] [Accepted: 04/15/2016] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate well-documented diagnostic antigens, named B13, 1F8 and JL7 recombinant proteins, as potential markers of seroconversion in treated chagasic patients. Prospective study, involving 203 patients treated with benznidazole, was conducted from endemic areas of northern Argentina. Follow-up was possible in 107 out of them and blood samples were taken for serology and PCR assays before and 2, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after treatment initiation. Reactivity against Trypanosoma cruzi lysate and recombinant antigens was measured by ELISA. The rate of decrease of antibody titers showed nonlinear kinetics with an abrupt drop within the first three months after initiation of treatment for all studied antigens, followed by a plateau displaying a low decay until the end of follow-up. At this point, anti-B13, anti-1F8 and anti-JL7 titers were relatively close to the cut-off line, while anti-T. cruzi antibodies still remained positive. At baseline, 60.8% (45/74) of analysed patients tested positive for parasite DNA by PCR and during the follow-up period in 34 out of 45 positive samples (75.5%) could not be detected T. cruzi DNA. Our results suggest that these antigens might be useful as early markers for monitoring antiparasitic treatment in chronic Chagas disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leticia L Niborski
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
| | - Vanina Grippo
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
| | - Sonia O Lafón
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
| | - Gabriela Levitus
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
| | | | - Juan C Ramirez
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
| | - Juan M Burgos
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
| | - Margarita Bisio
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
| | - Natalia A Juiz
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
| | - Vilma Ayala
- Centro Asistencial Cáritas Diocesana, Añatuya, Santiago del Estero,
Argentina
| | - María Coppede
- Centro Asistencial Cáritas Diocesana, Añatuya, Santiago del Estero,
Argentina
| | - Verónica Herrera
- Centro Asistencial Cáritas Diocesana, Añatuya, Santiago del Estero,
Argentina
| | - Crescencia López
- Centro Asistencial Cáritas Diocesana, Añatuya, Santiago del Estero,
Argentina
| | - Ana Contreras
- Centro Asistencial Cáritas Diocesana, Añatuya, Santiago del Estero,
Argentina
| | - Karina A Gómez
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
| | - Juan C Elean
- Centro Asistencial Cáritas Diocesana, Añatuya, Santiago del Estero,
Argentina
| | - Hugo D Mujica
- Centro Asistencial Cáritas Diocesana, Añatuya, Santiago del Estero,
Argentina
- Hospital Zonal Añatuya, Santiago del Estero, Argentina
| | - Alejandro G Schijman
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
| | - Mariano J Levin
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
| | - Silvia A Longhi
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología
Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
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26
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Cortina ME, Melli LJ, Roberti M, Mass M, Longinotti G, Tropea S, Lloret P, Serantes DAR, Salomón F, Lloret M, Caillava AJ, Restuccia S, Altcheh J, Buscaglia CA, Malatto L, Ugalde JE, Fraigi L, Moina C, Ybarra G, Ciocchini AE, Comerci DJ. Electrochemical magnetic microbeads-based biosensor for point-of-care serodiagnosis of infectious diseases. Biosens Bioelectron 2016; 80:24-33. [PMID: 26802749 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2016.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2015] [Revised: 12/23/2015] [Accepted: 01/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Access to appropriate diagnostic tools is an essential component in the evaluation and improvement of global health. Additionally, timely detection of infectious agents is critical in early diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. Conventional pathogen detection methods such as culturing, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) require long assay times, and complex and expensive instruments making them not adaptable to point-of-care (PoC) needs at resource-constrained places and primary care settings. Therefore, there is an unmet need to develop portable, simple, rapid, and accurate methods for PoC detection of infections. Here, we present the development and validation of a portable, robust and inexpensive electrochemical magnetic microbeads-based biosensor (EMBIA) platform for PoC serodiagnosis of infectious diseases caused by different types of microorganisms (parasitic protozoa, bacteria and viruses). We demonstrate the potential use of the EMBIA platform for in situ diagnosis of human (Chagas disease and human brucellosis) and animal (bovine brucellosis and foot-and-mouth disease) infections clearly differentiating infected from non-infected individuals or animals. For Chagas disease, a more extensive validation of the test was performed showing that the EMBIA platform displayed an excellent diagnostic performance almost indistinguishable, in terms of specificity and sensitivity, from a fluorescent immunomagnetic assay and the conventional ELISA using the same combination of antigens. This platform technology could potentially be applicable to diagnose other infectious and non-infectious diseases as well as detection and/or quantification of biomarkers at the POC and primary care settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- María E Cortina
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín, CONICET, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Luciano J Melli
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín, CONICET, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Mariano Roberti
- Centro de Micro y Nanoelectrónica del Bicentenario, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Mijal Mass
- Centro de Micro y Nanoelectrónica del Bicentenario, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Gloria Longinotti
- U.T. Nanomateriales, Centro INTI-Procesos Superficiales, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Salvador Tropea
- Centro de Micro y Nanoelectrónica del Bicentenario, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Paulina Lloret
- U.T. Nanomateriales, Centro INTI-Procesos Superficiales, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Diego A Rey Serantes
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín, CONICET, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Francisco Salomón
- Centro de Micro y Nanoelectrónica del Bicentenario, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Matías Lloret
- Centro de Micro y Nanoelectrónica del Bicentenario, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Ana J Caillava
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín, CONICET, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Sabrina Restuccia
- U.T. Nanomateriales, Centro INTI-Procesos Superficiales, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Jaime Altcheh
- Parasitología-Chagas, Hospital de Niños Ricardo Gutiérrez, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Carlos A Buscaglia
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín, CONICET, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Laura Malatto
- Centro de Micro y Nanoelectrónica del Bicentenario, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Juan E Ugalde
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín, CONICET, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Liliana Fraigi
- Centro de Micro y Nanoelectrónica del Bicentenario, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Carlos Moina
- U.T. Nanomateriales, Centro INTI-Procesos Superficiales, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Gabriel Ybarra
- U.T. Nanomateriales, Centro INTI-Procesos Superficiales, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Andrés E Ciocchini
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín, CONICET, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Diego J Comerci
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín, CONICET, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Grupo Pecuario, Centro Atómico Ezeiza, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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do Brasil PEAA, Castro R, de Castro L. Commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay versuspolymerase chain reaction for the diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2016; 111:1-19. [PMID: 26814640 PMCID: PMC4727431 DOI: 10.1590/0074-02760150296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2015] [Accepted: 12/11/2015] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic Chagas disease diagnosis relies on laboratory tests due to its clinical characteristics. The aim of this research was to review commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic test performance. Performance of commercial ELISA or PCR for the diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease were systematically searched in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, ISI Web, and LILACS through the bibliography from 1980-2014 and by contact with the manufacturers. The risk of bias was assessed with QUADAS-2. Heterogeneity was estimated with the I2 statistic. Accuracies provided by the manufacturers usually overestimate the accuracy provided by academia. The risk of bias is high in most tests and in most QUADAS dimensions. Heterogeneity is high in either sensitivity, specificity, or both. The evidence regarding commercial ELISA and ELISA-rec sensitivity and specificity indicates that there is overestimation. The current recommendation to use two simultaneous serological tests can be supported by the risk of bias analysis and the amount of heterogeneity but not by the observed accuracies. The usefulness of PCR tests are debatable and health care providers should not order them on a routine basis. PCR may be used in selected cases due to its potential to detect seronegative subjects.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rodolfo Castro
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro
Chagas, Laboratório de Pesquisa Clínica em DST e AIDS
- Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Saúde
Coletiva, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Liane de Castro
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro
Chagas, Laboratório de Farmacogenética, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
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28
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Bhattacharyya T, Mills EA, Jansen AM, Miles MA. Prospects for T. cruzi lineage-specific serological surveillance of wild mammals. Acta Trop 2015; 151:182-6. [PMID: 26116784 DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2015.06.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2015] [Revised: 06/01/2015] [Accepted: 06/17/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Sequence diversity in the Trypanosoma cruzi small surface molecule TSSA has yielded antigens for serology to investigate the T. cruzi lineage-specific infection history of patients with Chagas disease. Synthetic peptides can be used as the lineage-specific antigens. Here we consider the rationale, feasibility and potential of applying peptide-based lineage-specific serology to naturally infected wild mammals. The commercial availability of appropriate secondary antibodies encourages this further development, for discovery of new reservoir host species and to reveal the wider ecological distribution of T. cruzi lineages, currently hindered by the need to recover live isolates or to attempt genotyping of DNA extracted from blood samples.
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29
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Neglected Tropical Diseases in the Post-Genomic Era. Trends Genet 2015; 31:539-555. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2015.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2015] [Revised: 06/01/2015] [Accepted: 06/03/2015] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
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30
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Carmona SJ, Nielsen M, Schafer-Nielsen C, Mucci J, Altcheh J, Balouz V, Tekiel V, Frasch AC, Campetella O, Buscaglia CA, Agüero F. Towards High-throughput Immunomics for Infectious Diseases: Use of Next-generation Peptide Microarrays for Rapid Discovery and Mapping of Antigenic Determinants. Mol Cell Proteomics 2015; 14:1871-84. [PMID: 25922409 PMCID: PMC4587317 DOI: 10.1074/mcp.m114.045906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2014] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Complete characterization of antibody specificities associated to natural infections is expected to provide a rich source of serologic biomarkers with potential applications in molecular diagnosis, follow-up of chemotherapeutic treatments, and prioritization of targets for vaccine development. Here, we developed a highly-multiplexed platform based on next-generation high-density peptide microarrays to map these specificities in Chagas Disease, an exemplar of a human infectious disease caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. We designed a high-density peptide microarray containing more than 175,000 overlapping 15mer peptides derived from T. cruzi proteins. Peptides were synthesized in situ on microarray slides, spanning the complete length of 457 parasite proteins with fully overlapped 15mers (1 residue shift). Screening of these slides with antibodies purified from infected patients and healthy donors demonstrated both a high technical reproducibility as well as epitope mapping consistency when compared with earlier low-throughput technologies. Using a conservative signal threshold to classify positive (reactive) peptides we identified 2,031 disease-specific peptides and 97 novel parasite antigens, effectively doubling the number of known antigens and providing a 10-fold increase in the number of fine mapped antigenic determinants for this disease. Finally, further analysis of the chip data showed that optimizing the amount of sequence overlap of displayed peptides can increase the protein space covered in a single chip by at least ∼threefold without sacrificing sensitivity. In conclusion, we show the power of high-density peptide chips for the discovery of pathogen-specific linear B-cell epitopes from clinical samples, thus setting the stage for high-throughput biomarker discovery screenings and proteome-wide studies of immune responses against pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santiago J Carmona
- From the ‡Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, Universidad de San Martín - CONICET, Sede San Martín, B 1650 HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Morten Nielsen
- From the ‡Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, Universidad de San Martín - CONICET, Sede San Martín, B 1650 HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina; §Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Lyngby, Denmark
| | | | - Juan Mucci
- From the ‡Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, Universidad de San Martín - CONICET, Sede San Martín, B 1650 HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Jaime Altcheh
- ‖Servicio de Parasitología y Chagas, Hospital de Niños Ricardo Gutiérrez, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Virginia Balouz
- From the ‡Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, Universidad de San Martín - CONICET, Sede San Martín, B 1650 HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Valeria Tekiel
- From the ‡Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, Universidad de San Martín - CONICET, Sede San Martín, B 1650 HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Alberto C Frasch
- From the ‡Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, Universidad de San Martín - CONICET, Sede San Martín, B 1650 HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Oscar Campetella
- From the ‡Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, Universidad de San Martín - CONICET, Sede San Martín, B 1650 HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Carlos A Buscaglia
- From the ‡Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, Universidad de San Martín - CONICET, Sede San Martín, B 1650 HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Fernán Agüero
- From the ‡Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, Universidad de San Martín - CONICET, Sede San Martín, B 1650 HMP, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina;
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31
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Izquierdo L, Marques AF, Gállego M, Sanz S, Tebar S, Riera C, Quintó L, Aldasoro E, Almeida IC, Gascon J. Evaluation of a chemiluminescent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the diagnosis of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in a nonendemic setting. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2015; 108:928-31. [PMID: 24271047 PMCID: PMC3970649 DOI: 10.1590/0074-0276130112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2012] [Accepted: 06/19/2013] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The disappearance of lytic, protective antibodies (Abs) from the serum of patients with Chagas disease is accepted as a reliable indicator of parasitological cure. The efficiency of a chemiluminescent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay based on a purified, trypomastigote-derived glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored mucin antigen for the serologic detection of lytic Abs against Trypanosoma cruzi was evaluated in a nonendemic setting using a panel of 92 positive and 58 negative human sera. The technique proved to be highly sensitive {100%; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 96-100} and specific (98.3%; 95% CI = 90.7-99.7), with a kappa score of 0.99. Therefore, this assay can be used to detect active T. cruzi infection and to monitor trypanosomicidal treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis Izquierdo
- Barcelona Centre for International Health Research, Hospital Clinic
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32
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Mapping antigenic motifs in the trypomastigote small surface antigen from Trypanosoma cruzi. CLINICAL AND VACCINE IMMUNOLOGY : CVI 2015; 22:304-12. [PMID: 25589551 DOI: 10.1128/cvi.00684-14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The trypomastigote small surface antigen (TSSA) is a mucin-like molecule from Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, which displays amino acid polymorphisms in parasite isolates. TSSA expression is restricted to the surface of infective cell-derived trypomastigotes, where it functions as an adhesin and engages surface receptors on the host cell as a prerequisite for parasite internalization. Previous results have established TSSA-CL, the isoform encoded by the CL Brener clone, as an appealing candidate for use in serology-based diagnostics for Chagas disease. Here, we used a combination of peptide- and recombinant protein-based tools to map the antigenic structure of TSSA-CL at maximal resolution. Our results indicate the presence of different partially overlapping B-cell epitopes clustering in the central portion of TSSA-CL, which contains most of the polymorphisms found in parasite isolates. Based on these results, we assessed the serodiagnostic performance of a 21-amino-acid-long peptide that spans TSSA-CL major antigenic determinants, which was similar to the performance of the previously validated glutathione S-transferase (GST)-TSSA-CL fusion molecule. Furthermore, the tools developed for the antigenic characterization of the TSSA antigen were also used to explore other potential diagnostic applications of the anti-TSSA humoral response in Chagasic patients. Overall, our present results provide additional insights into the antigenic structure of TSSA-CL and support this molecule as an excellent target for molecular intervention in Chagas disease.
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Reis-Cunha JL, Mendes TADO, de Almeida Lourdes R, Ribeiro DRDS, Machado-de-Avila RA, de Oliveira Tavares M, Lemos DS, Câmara ACJ, Olórtegui CC, de Lana M, da Cunha Galvão LM, Fujiwara RT, Bartholomeu DC. Genome-wide screening and identification of new Trypanosoma cruzi antigens with potential application for chronic Chagas disease diagnosis. PLoS One 2014; 9:e106304. [PMID: 25225853 PMCID: PMC4165580 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2014] [Accepted: 08/05/2014] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, an infection that afflicts approximately 8 million people in Latin America. Diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease is currently based on serological tests because this condition is usually characterized by high anti-T. cruzi IgG titers and low parasitemia. The antigens used in these assays may have low specificity due to cross reactivity with antigens from related parasite infections, such as leishmaniasis, and low sensitivity caused by the high polymorphism among T. cruzi strains. Therefore, the identification of new T. cruzi-specific antigens that are conserved among the various parasite discrete typing units (DTUs) is still required. In the present study, we have explored the hybrid nature of the T. cruzi CL Brener strain using a broad genome screening approach to select new T. cruzi antigens that are conserved among the different parasite DTUs and that are absent in other trypanosomatid species. Peptide arrays containing the conserved antigens with the highest epitope prediction scores were synthesized, and the reactivity of the peptides were tested by immunoblot using sera from C57BL/6 mice chronically infected with T. cruzi strains from the TcI, TcII or TcVI DTU. The two T. cruzi proteins that contained the most promising peptides were expressed as recombinant proteins and tested in ELISA experiments with sera from chagasic patients with distinct clinical manifestations: those infected with T. cruzi from different DTUs and those with cutaneous or visceral leishmaniasis. These proteins, named rTc_11623.20 and rTc_N_10421.310, exhibited 94.83 and 89.66% sensitivity, 98.2 and 94.6% specificity, respectively, and a pool of these 2 proteins exhibited 96.55% sensitivity and 98.18% specificity. This work led to the identification of two new antigens with great potential application in the diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- João Luís Reis-Cunha
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | | | - Rodrigo de Almeida Lourdes
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | | | - Ricardo Andrez Machado-de-Avila
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Maykon de Oliveira Tavares
- Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Escola de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, Brazil
| | - Denise Silveira Lemos
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | | | - Carlos Chavez Olórtegui
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Marta de Lana
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | | | - Ricardo Toshio Fujiwara
- Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
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Longhi SA, Atienza A, Perez Prados G, Buying A, Balouz V, Buscaglia CA, Santos R, Tasso LM, Bonato R, Chiale P, Pinilla C, Judkowski VA, Gómez KA. Cytokine production but lack of proliferation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from chronic Chagas' disease cardiomyopathy patients in response to T. cruzi ribosomal P proteins. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2014; 8:e2906. [PMID: 24901991 PMCID: PMC4046937 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2014] [Accepted: 04/15/2014] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Trypanosoma cruzi ribosomal P proteins, P2β and P0, induce high levels of antibodies in patients with chronic Chagas' disease Cardiomyopathy (CCC). It is well known that these antibodies alter the beating rate of cardiomyocytes and provoke apoptosis by their interaction with β1-adrenergic and M2-muscarinic cardiac receptors. Based on these findings, we decided to study the cellular immune response to these proteins in CCC patients compared to non-infected individuals. Methodology/Principal findings We evaluated proliferation, presence of surface activation markers and cytokine production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated with P2β, the C-terminal portion of P0 (CP0) proteins and T. cruzi lysate from CCC patients predominantly infected with TcVI lineage. PBMC from CCC patients cultured with P2β or CP0 proteins, failed to proliferate and express CD25 and HLA-DR on T cell populations. However, multiplex cytokine assays showed that these antigens triggered higher secretion of IL-10, TNF-α and GM-CSF by PBMC as well as both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells subsets of CCC subjects. Upon T. cruzi lysate stimulation, PBMC from CCC patients not only proliferated but also became activated within the context of Th1 response. Interestingly, T. cruzi lysate was also able to induce the secretion of GM-CSF by CD4+ or CD8+ T cells. Conclusions/Significance Our results showed that although the lack of PBMC proliferation in CCC patients in response to ribosomal P proteins, the detection of IL-10, TNF-α and GM-CSF suggests that specific T cells could have both immunoregulatory and pro-inflammatory potential, which might modulate the immune response in Chagas' disease. Furthermore, it was possible to demonstrate for the first time that GM-CSF was produced by PBMC of CCC patients in response not only to recombinant ribosomal P proteins but also to parasite lysate, suggesting the value of this cytokine to evaluate T cells responses in T. cruzi infection. Chronic Chagas' disease Cardiomyopathy (CCC) is the most frequent and severe consequence of the chronic infection by protozoan parasite T. cruzi. Patients with CCC develop high levels of antibodies against ribosomal P proteins of T. cruzi, called P2β and P0. These antibodies can cross-react with, and stimulate, the β1-adrenergic and M2 muscarinic cardiac receptors, inducing a functional and pathological response in cardiomyocytes. In this study, we focused on the cellular immune response developed by CCC patients in response to T. cruzi ribosomal P proteins. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from CCC patients stimulated with both proteins neither proliferated nor induced the expression of activation markers on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. However, these cells responded by the secretion of IL-10, TNF-α and GM-CSF, giving evidence that there is indeed a pool of specific T cells in the periphery responsive to these proteins. Interestingly, the cytokines profile was not related with those described to whole parasite lysate or other recombinant proteins, suggesting that each parasite protein may contribute differently to the complex immune response developed in patients with Chagas' disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia A. Longhi
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Augusto Atienza
- Hospital General de Agudos J.M. Ramos Mejía, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | | | - Alcinette Buying
- Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, San Diego, California, United States of America
| | - Virginia Balouz
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas “Dr. Rodolfo Ugalde”, Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Campus UNSAM, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Carlos A. Buscaglia
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas “Dr. Rodolfo Ugalde”, Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Campus UNSAM, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Radleigh Santos
- Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, Port St. Lucie, Florida, United States of America
| | - Laura M. Tasso
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Ricardo Bonato
- Hospital General de Agudos J.M. Ramos Mejía, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Pablo Chiale
- Hospital General de Agudos J.M. Ramos Mejía, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Clemencia Pinilla
- Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, San Diego, California, United States of America
| | - Valeria A. Judkowski
- Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, San Diego, California, United States of America
| | - Karina A. Gómez
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- * E-mail:
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Bhattacharyya T, Falconar AK, Luquetti AO, Costales JA, Grijalva MJ, Lewis MD, Messenger LA, Tran TT, Ramirez JD, Guhl F, Carrasco HJ, Diosque P, Garcia L, Litvinov SV, Miles MA. Development of peptide-based lineage-specific serology for chronic Chagas disease: geographical and clinical distribution of epitope recognition. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2014; 8:e2892. [PMID: 24852444 PMCID: PMC4031129 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2014] [Accepted: 04/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Chagas disease, caused by infection with the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, remains a serious public health issue in Latin America. Genetically diverse, the species is sub-divided into six lineages, known as TcI–TcVI, which have disparate geographical and ecological distributions. TcII, TcV, and TcVI are associated with severe human disease in the Southern Cone countries, whereas TcI is associated with cardiomyopathy north of the Amazon. T. cruzi persists as a chronic infection, with cardiac and/or gastrointestinal symptoms developing years or decades after initial infection. Identifying an individual's history of T. cruzi lineage infection directly by genotyping of the parasite is complicated by the low parasitaemia and sequestration in the host tissues. Methodology/Principal Findings We have applied here serology against lineage-specific epitopes of the T. cruzi surface antigen TSSA, as an indirect approach to allow identification of infecting lineage. Chagasic sera from chronic patients from a range of endemic countries were tested by ELISA against synthetic peptides representing lineage-specific TSSA epitopes bound to avidin-coated ELISA plates via a biotin labelled polyethylene glycol-glycine spacer to increase rotation and ensure each amino acid side chain could freely interact with their antibodies. 79/113 (70%) of samples from Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina recognised the TSSA epitope common to lineages TcII/TcV/TcVI. Comparison with clinical information showed that a higher proportion of Brazilian TSSApep-II/V/VI responders had ECG abnormalities than non-responders (38% vs 17%; p<0.0001). Among northern chagasic sera 4/20 (20%) from Ecuador reacted with this peptide; 1/12 Venezuelan and 1/34 Colombian samples reacted with TSSApep-IV. In addition, a proposed TcI-specific epitope, described elsewhere, was demonstrated here to be highly conserved across lineages and therefore not applicable to lineage-specific serology. Conclusions/Significance These results demonstrate the considerable potential for synthetic peptide serology to investigate the infection history of individuals, geographical and clinical associations of T. cruzi lineages. Chagas disease remains a significant public health issue in Latin America. Caused by the single-celled parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, the main route of infection is via contact with contaminated faeces from blood-sucking triatomine bugs, but following successful insecticide spraying campaigns, congenital, food-borne, and transfusion/transplantation routes of infection have become more relevant. In the absence of successful chemotherapy, T. cruzi usually persists in the body for life, and in symptomatic cases may lead to death or debilitation by heart failure and/or gastrointestinal megasyndromes. As a species, T. cruzi displays great genetic diversity, and is subdivided into lineages called TcI - TcVI. Associating T. cruzi lineage with clinical symptoms is a key goal of Chagas disease research. Direct isolation and typing of T. cruzi from chronically infected patients is hampered by the sequestration of the parasite in host tissues. Identifying lineage-specific antibodies in serum provides an alternative approach to determining an individual's history of infection. Here, we performed lineage-specific serology using samples from a range of South American countries. We show that lineage-specific seropositivity is associated with geographical distributions and clinical outcome. These findings have wide implications for further diagnostics development and improved understanding of the epidemiology of Chagas disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tapan Bhattacharyya
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | | | - Alejandro O. Luquetti
- Laboratorio de Chagas, Hospital das Clinicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Goias, Brazil
| | - Jaime A. Costales
- Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas, Escuela de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Mario J. Grijalva
- Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas, Escuela de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
- Tropical Disease Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Michael D. Lewis
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Louisa A. Messenger
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Trang T. Tran
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Juan-David Ramirez
- Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Felipe Guhl
- Centro de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Tropical, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Hernan J. Carrasco
- Universidad Central de Venezuela Instituto de Medicina Tropical, Caracas, Venezuela
| | - Patricio Diosque
- Unidad de Epidemiología Molecular, Instituto de Patología Experimental, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina
| | - Lineth Garcia
- Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Cochabamba, Bolivia
| | | | - Michael A. Miles
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
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Vega Benedetti AF, Cimino RO, Cajal PS, Juarez MDV, Villalpando CA, Gil JF, Marcipar IS, Krolewiecki AJ, Nasser JR. Performance of different Trypanosoma cruzi antigens in the diagnosis of Chagas disease in patients with American cutaneous leishmaniasis from a co-endemic region in Argentina. Trop Med Int Health 2013; 18:1103-1109. [PMID: 23837449 DOI: 10.1111/tmi.12144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To determine the ability of recombinant antigens to detect cases of infection with Trypanosoma cruzi among cases of infection with Leishmania spp. by serological methods. METHODS Sera from 41 patients infected with Leishmania spp. were evaluated with ELISA using single (FRA, CP1 and TSSAVI) or pooled (commercial Rec-ELISA) recombinant proteins or homogenate antigens (commercial H-ELISA). As there is no gold standard antigen to discriminate Chagas disease from leishmaniasis, the correlation of results between defined antigens and the homogenate was made with Kappa Index (KI), the level of correlation considered being used as a criterion of specificity. RESULTS Single recombinant antigens and Rec-ELISA showed good correlation (KI > 0.8). A low correlation (KI < 0.66) was observed between the results from single recombinant antigens or the commercial recombinant kit and H-ELISA. CONCLUSIONS The highly correlated results between T. cruzi single or pooled recombinant proteins are indicative of the usefulness of recombinant antigens for Chagas diagnosis. Our results also indicate that in the city of Oran in Argentina, between 12% and 17% of patients with leishmaniasis are also infected with Chagas disease. The high KI values between TSSAVI and the other recombinant proteins suggest that in these patients, the infection may be caused by T. cruzi II and/or V and/or VI lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- A F Vega Benedetti
- Cátedra de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina.,Instituto de Investigaciones de Enfermedades Tropicales, Sede Regional Orán, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina.,Instituto de Patología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina
| | - Rubén O Cimino
- Cátedra de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina.,Instituto de Investigaciones de Enfermedades Tropicales, Sede Regional Orán, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina
| | - Pamela S Cajal
- Instituto de Investigaciones de Enfermedades Tropicales, Sede Regional Orán, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina
| | - Marisa Del Valle Juarez
- Instituto de Investigaciones de Enfermedades Tropicales, Sede Regional Orán, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina
| | - Carlos A Villalpando
- Instituto de Investigaciones de Enfermedades Tropicales, Sede Regional Orán, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina
| | - José F Gil
- Instituto de Investigaciones de Enfermedades Tropicales, Sede Regional Orán, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Iván S Marcipar
- Laboratorio de Tecnología Inmunológica, Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Alejandro J Krolewiecki
- Instituto de Investigaciones de Enfermedades Tropicales, Sede Regional Orán, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina.,Instituto de Patología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Julio R Nasser
- Cátedra de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina.,Instituto de Investigaciones de Enfermedades Tropicales, Sede Regional Orán, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina
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Pierimarchi P, Cerni L, Alarcón de Noya B, Nicotera G, Díaz-Bello Z, Angheben A, Scacciatelli D, Zonfrillo M, Recinelli G, Serafino A. Rapid Chagas diagnosis in clinical settings using a multiparametric assay. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis 2013; 75:381-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2012.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2012] [Revised: 12/11/2012] [Accepted: 12/18/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Gupta S, Wan X, Zago MP, Sellers VCM, Silva TS, Assiah D, Dhiman M, Nuñez S, Petersen JR, Vázquez-Chagoyán JC, Estrada-Franco JG, Garg NJ. Antigenicity and diagnostic potential of vaccine candidates in human Chagas disease. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2013; 7:e2018. [PMID: 23350012 PMCID: PMC3547861 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2012] [Accepted: 12/04/2012] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is endemic in Latin America and an emerging infectious disease in the US and Europe. We have shown TcG1, TcG2, and TcG4 antigens elicit protective immunity to T. cruzi in mice and dogs. Herein, we investigated antigenicity of the recombinant proteins in humans to determine their potential utility for the development of next generation diagnostics for screening of T. cruzi infection and Chagas disease. Methods and Results Sera samples from inhabitants of the endemic areas of Argentina-Bolivia and Mexico-Guatemala were analyzed in 1st-phase for anti-T. cruzi antibody response by traditional serology tests; and in 2nd-phase for antibody response to the recombinant antigens (individually or mixed) by an ELISA. We noted similar antibody response to candidate antigens in sera samples from inhabitants of Argentina and Mexico (n = 175). The IgG antibodies to TcG1, TcG2, and TcG4 (individually) and TcGmix were present in 62–71%, 65–78% and 72–82%, and 89–93% of the subjects, respectively, identified to be seropositive by traditional serology. Recombinant TcG1- (93.6%), TcG2- (96%), TcG4- (94.6%) and TcGmix- (98%) based ELISA exhibited significantly higher specificity compared to that noted for T. cruzi trypomastigote-based ELISA (77.8%) in diagnosing T. cruzi-infection and avoiding cross-reactivity to Leishmania spp. No significant correlation was noted in the sera levels of antibody response and clinical severity of Chagas disease in seropositive subjects. Conclusions Three candidate antigens were recognized by antibody response in chagasic patients from two distinct study sites and expressed in diverse strains of the circulating parasites. A multiplex ELISA detecting antibody response to three antigens was highly sensitive and specific in diagnosing T. cruzi infection in humans, suggesting that a diagnostic kit based on TcG1, TcG2 and TcG4 recombinant proteins will be useful in diverse situations. Chagas disease is the most common cause of congestive heart failure related deaths among young adults in the endemic areas of South and Central America and Mexico. Diagnosis and treatment of T. cruzi infection has remained difficult and challenging after 100 years of its identification. In >95% of human cases, T. cruzi infection remains undiagnosed until several years later when chronic evolution of progressive disease results in clinical symptoms associated with cardiac damage. Diagnosis generally depends on the measurement of T. cruzi–specific antibodies that can result in false positives. A conclusive diagnosis of T. cruzi infection thus often requires multiple serological tests, in combination with epidemiological data and clinical symptoms. In this study, we investigated the antibody response to TcG1, TcG2, and TcG4 in clinically characterized chagasic patients. These antigens were identified as vaccine candidates and shown to elicit protective immunity to T. cruzi and Chagas disease in experimental animals. Our data show the serology test developed using the TcGmix (multiplex ELISA) is a significantly better alternative to epimastigote extracts currently used in T. cruzi serodiagnosis or the trypomastigote lysate used in this study for comparison purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shivali Gupta
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
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Ashmus RA, Schocker NS, Cordero-Mendoza Y, Marques AF, Monroy EY, Pardo A, Izquierdo L, Gállego M, Gascon J, Almeida IC, Michael K. Potential use of synthetic α-galactosyl-containing glycotopes of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi as diagnostic antigens for Chagas disease. Org Biomol Chem 2013; 11:5579-83. [DOI: 10.1039/c3ob40887f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
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40
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Torrecilhas AC, Schumacher RI, Alves MJM, Colli W. Vesicles as carriers of virulence factors in parasitic protozoan diseases. Microbes Infect 2012; 14:1465-74. [PMID: 22892602 DOI: 10.1016/j.micinf.2012.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2012] [Revised: 07/06/2012] [Accepted: 07/09/2012] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Different types of shed vesicles as, for example, exosomes, plasma-membrane-derived vesicles or microparticles, are the focus of intense research in view of their potential role in cell-cell communication and under the perspective that they might be good tools for immunotherapy, vaccination or diagnostic purposes. This review discusses ways employed by pathogenic trypanosomatids to interact with the host by shedding vesicles that contain molecules important for the establishment of infection, as opposed to previous beliefs considering them as a waste of cellular metabolism. Trypanosomatids are compared with Apicomplexa, which circulate parasite antigens bound to vesicles shed by host cells. The knowledge of the origin and chemical composition of these different vesicles might lead to the understanding of the mechanisms that determine their biological function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Claudia Torrecilhas
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Campus Diadema, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, UNIFESP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
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Involvement of TSSA (trypomastigote small surface antigen) in Trypanosoma cruzi invasion of mammalian cells. Biochem J 2012; 444:211-8. [PMID: 22428617 DOI: 10.1042/bj20120074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
TSSA (trypomastigote small surface antigen) is a polymorphic mucin-like molecule displayed on the surface of Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigote forms. To evaluate its functional properties, we undertook comparative biochemical and genetic approaches on isoforms present in parasite stocks from extant evolutionary lineages (CL Brener and Sylvio X-10). We show that CL Brener TSSA, but not the Sylvio X-10 counterpart, exhibits dose-dependent and saturable binding towards non-macrophagic cell lines. This binding triggers Ca(2+)-based signalling responses in the target cell while providing an anchor for the invading parasite. Accordingly, exogenous addition of either TSSA-derived peptides or specific antibodies significantly inhibits invasion of CL Brener, but not Sylvio X-10, trypomastigotes. Non-infective epimastigote forms, which do not express detectable levels of TSSA, were stably transfected with TSSA cDNA from either parasite stock. Although both transfectants produced a surface-associated mucin-like TSSA product, epimastigotes expressing CL Brener TSSA showed a ~2-fold increase in their attachment to mammalian cells. Overall, these findings indicate that CL Brener TSSA functions as a parasite adhesin, engaging surface receptor(s) and inducing signalling pathways on the host cell as a prerequisite for parasite internalization. More importantly, the contrasting functional features of TSSA isoforms provide one appealing mechanism underlying the differential infectivity of T. cruzi stocks.
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