ROLE OF GALECTIN-8 IN THE OUTCOME OF TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI-INDUCED MYOCARDITIS

SANMARCO, LM; AOKI, MP; PASCUALE, C; LEGUIZAMÓN, S; BERTELLI, A; POSTAN, M

Congreso; Reunión conjunta de Sociedades de Biociencias; 2017

Galectins  are  a  family  of  lectins  that  contain  characteristic  aminoacid sequences and have affinity for B-galactosides. Galectin-8 (Gal-8), which belongs to the tandem repeat group, it is widely distributed in tissues and secreted to the extracellular media, acting in an autocrine/paracrine manner. It participates in cellular adhesion, migration, and apoptosis, mainly in cancer and autoimmune disorders. Different authors have also proposed Gal-8 to be involved in  pro-inflammatory  or  anti-inflammatory  events.  Chagasic  cardiomyopathy is a chronic disease, whose development is based on the induction of a strong inflammation by Trypanosoma cruzipersistence in cardiac tissue. The aim of this work was to analyze the role of Gal-8 in an inflammatory context induced by T. cruzi.Gal-8 knock out (KO) and C57/BL6 (WT) mice were infected with T. cruzistrain Ac and sacrificed at 4 months post infection for histopathology and phenotyping analysis. The inflammation score in cardiac tissue of  KO  mice  was  significantly  higher  compared  with  WT  mice.  No difference  was  found  in  fibrosis  induction. The  cellular  population present  in  infected  heart  tissues,  was  characterized  by  flow-cytometry analysis. There were no differences in the levels of (CD-11b+Ly6ChighLy6G-)  and  (CD11b+Ly6ClowLy6G-)  monocytes,  dendritic  cells  (CD11c+F4/80-CD11b+)  ;(  CD11c+F4/80-CD11b-)  and T lymphocytes (CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+) between KO and WT infected  hearts.  However,  inflammatory  cells  isolated  from  KO  infected mice showed higher frequency of neutrophils (P=0.0097) and macrophages (P=0.0021) compared to WT mice, with concomitant increase of MCP-1 mRNA expression levels (P=0.0023). In agreement, increased levels of neutrophils (p=0.033) were observed in spleens from KO infected mice compared to those of WT mice.The reported participation of Gal-8 in preaperesis induction on leukocytes is in agreement with our findings.Altogether, our results suggest a Gal-8 anti-inflammatory role in T. cruziinfection