The Role of Co-Stimulatory Molecules in Chagas Disease.

Bruna Pinto,Isabela Naziazeno,Nayara Medeiros,Juliana Gomes,Rodrigo Correa-Oliveira,Tereza Fontes-Cal,Walderez Dutra

doi:10.3390/cells7110200

Abstract

Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is a potentially life-threatening tropical disease endemic to Latin American countries that affects approximately 8 million people. In the chronic phase of the disease, individuals are classified as belonging to the indeterminate clinical form or to the cardiac and/or digestive forms when clinical symptoms are apparent. The relationship between monocytes and lymphocytes may be an important point to help clarify the complexity that surrounds the clinical symptoms of the chronic phase of Chagas disease. The co-stimulatory signals are essential to determining the magnitude of T cell response to the antigen. The signals are known to determine the regulation of subsequent adaptive immune response. However, little is known about the expression and function of these molecules in Chagas disease. Therefore, this review aims to discuss the possible role of main pathways of co-stimulatory molecule-receptor interactions in this pathology that could be crucial to understand the disease dynamics.

Highlights

A Brief Overview of Chagas Disease Chagas disease, which is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), was discovered in 1909 by Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano das Chagas, it remains a serious public health problem in many countries
Different strains were able to induce the expression of PD-L1 on dendritic cells (DCs); PD-1 is highly expressed in lymphocytes found in the hearts of mice infected with T. cruzi, and its blockade increased the proliferative response by T cells and mice mortality; macrophages of infected mice treated with anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L
The heterogeneity of clinical manifestations of chronic Chagas disease has, until now, been one of of the points to be unveiled by science

Summary

Introduction

A Brief Overview of Chagas Disease Chagas disease, which is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), was discovered in 1909 by Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano das Chagas, it remains a serious public health problem in many countries. Cone Initiative (Iniciativa de Salud del Cono Sur, INCOSUR) was launched in 1991 to eliminate the main vector, Triatoma infestans, and transmission by blood transfusion in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay [6]. This initiative led to a reduction in T. cruzi transmission, and its interruption was certified in Uruguay (1997), Chile (1999), Argentina (2001), Brazil (2000) and Paraguay (2002) [2,7]. Despite these efforts to combat the transmission of the disease in still endemic regions in Latin America, Chagas disease has become a significant epidemiological, economic and

Objectives

Results

Conclusion