Occurrence of antibodies against Triatoma virus in human from endemic and nonendemic areas for Chagas disease

JAILSON QUERIDO ; JON AGIRRE ; G. A. MARTI; GUERIN D.M.A; MARÍA G. ECHEVERRIA; MARÍA L. SUSEVICH

Cochabamba

Workshop; II International Workshop on Chagas Disease, triatomine vectors, Trypanosoma cruzi, and Triatoma virus.; 2012

Red TrV

TrV (Dicistroviridae: Cripavirus) is a natural enemy of Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), one of the main vectors of the Chagas disease. It is found in Triatoma infestans and T. sordida. Due to its mode of transmission, it is speculated that millions of humans and animals living in endemic áreas for Chagas disease have been exposed to the TrV. However, to date the TrV was only found in populations of triatomines from Argentina. OBJECTIVES: In this work we study the occurrence of antibodies against TrV in human from endemic and non-endemic areas for Chagas disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The infective and non-infective TrV particles were purified from faces coming from infected insects. Total protein extract from empty TrV particles were used to adsorb on micro-plates for using in indirect enzymelinked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), using sera from human from Portugal (n = 11), Cuba (n = 12), Brazil (n = 50), Argentina (n = 121) and control group (n = 6). SDS-PAGE analyses were performed and after that 5μg of total protein from empty TrV were transferred to PVDF membrane. Sera of human from Argentina (n = 49), positive and some negative in ELISA were analyzed by western blot. RESULTS: When analyzed by ELISA, we observed that there are no significant levels of anti-TrV antibodies in sera of patients with Chagas disease from Brazil, Cuba, Portugal and control group. Some sera of human from endemic and non-endemic provinces from Argentina show significant levels of anti-TrV antibodies. Some sera of human with or without Chagas disease from endemic province from Argentina were positive when analyzed by western blot. CONCLUSION: The results of ELISA anti-TrV together with the results of western blot indicate that some sera of human with or without Chagas disease from endemic province from Argentina have significant levels of anti-TrV antibodies, indicating that they have been in contact with this virus. Previous study performed by other authors indicated that it was not possible to find anti-TrV antibodies in sera of Chagas? disease patients living in endemic areas. However, in this study we demonstrated, for the first time, the prevalence of anti-TrV antibodies in humans from endemic areas for Chagas disease. Acknowledgements This work was partially supported by Acción Especial AE-2009-1-21, from the GV, Spain, and CYTED 209RT0364 action (RedTrV: www.redtrv.org), both granted to DG.