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D’Ávila DA, Galvão LMC, Sousa GR, Britto C, Moreira OC, Chiari E. Monitoring the parasite load in chronic Chagas disease patients: comparison between blood culture and quantitative real time PCR. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0208133. [PMID: 30496249 PMCID: PMC6264508 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2018] [Accepted: 11/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite the improvements in diagnostic tools for detection of Trypanosoma cruzi in human blood samples, the isolation of parasite from bloodstream in the chronic phase of Chagas disease is challenging. Thus, there is an increasing interest in the development of strategies that allow an accurate monitoring of the parasite load in bloodstream of Chagas disease patients. Given that, the comparison of a classical diagnostic method such as blood culture and multiplex quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) was few explored so far. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the detection and quantification of T. cruzi load in the circulating blood of patients with chronic Chagas disease, using blood culture and qPCR techniques. METHODS⁄PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The multiplex real-time quantitative PCR assay (qPCR) based on TaqMan technology was evaluated in 135 blood samples from 91 patients with chronic Chagas disease presenting indeterminate (asymptomatic, n = 23) and cardiac (chronic cardiomyopathy, n = 68) forms, in comparison with the classical blood culture (BC) technique. The total positivity of qPCR and BC was 58.5% and 49.6%, respectively. The median parasite load of all positive patients was 1.18 [0.39-4.23] par. eq.⁄mL, ranging from 0.01 to 116.10 par. eq.⁄mL. We did not find significant differences between T. cruzi load with age and distinct clinical manifestations of patients. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Our data suggest that qPCR can be an auxiliary tool for studies that require T. cruzi isolation from the bloodstream of patients with chronic Chagas disease, after the establishment of a parasite load cut-off that guarantees a relative success rate of parasite isolation using BC technique.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniella Alchaar D’Ávila
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Parasitologia, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
| | - Lúcia Maria C. Galvão
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Parasitologia, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
| | - Giovane R. Sousa
- Section on Immunobiology, Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - Constança Britto
- Laboratório de Biologia Molecular e Doenças Endêmicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, RJ, Brazil
| | - Otacilio C. Moreira
- Laboratório de Biologia Molecular e Doenças Endêmicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, RJ, Brazil
| | - Egler Chiari
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Parasitologia, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
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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] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [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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da Câmara ACJ, Lages-Silva E, Sampaio GHF, D’Ávila DA, Chiari E, Galvão LMDC. Homogeneity of Trypanosoma cruzi I, II, and III populations and the overlap of wild and domestic transmission cycles by Triatoma brasiliensis in northeastern Brazil. Parasitol Res 2013; 112:1543-50. [DOI: 10.1007/s00436-013-3301-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2012] [Accepted: 01/11/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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