Circulating cytokine levels in Chagas patients with and without dilated cardiomyopathy

MIRANDA S; SOSA G; LOMBARDI MG; VON WULFFEN A; CIAMPI N; PAOLUCCI A; PRINCIPATO M; CARBAJALES J; DI GIROLAMO G

Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires

Congreso; LXIV Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigaciones Clínicas; 2019

SAIC

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DC) represents the most severe manifestation that affects ≈30% of individuals along 10-30 years after T. cruzi infection. To study the underlying mechanisms, circulating levels of different cytokines/chemokines were investigated in patients with DC or not (NC) and compared with healthy control donors (C).Chagas´ patients were recruited by the Cardiogenetic Center, Ramos Mejía Hospital, Bs. As., after signing the informed consent approved by the local Ethics Committee. All patients came from northwestern Argentina and southern Bolivia. No patient presented another etiology of dilated cardiomyopathy except Chagas. Normal healthy volunteers showing negative serological tests for the infection were included as the control (C) group (n=14). The NC group (n=22) included asymptomatic individuals, with ejection fraction (EF) more than 50 % and DC group (n=22) showed EF less than 35%. Enrolled patients were submitted to a standard follow up and clinical treatment.Fasting plasma levels of IFNγ, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12 (p70), IL-15, IL-17A, MCP-1/CCL2, MIP-1α/CCL3, TNFα and IL-2 were assessed using a Magnetic Bead Multiplex Assay in a Magpix® equipment (Merck Millipore). Concentrations were determined using the xPONENT software version 4.2.Our results showed that: 1- DC, in contrast to NC, has higher levels of TNFα than C (p: 0.010), 2- IL-6 concentration increased in DC with respect to NC (p: 0.033), 3- NC showed a trend to higher MCP-1 levels respect to DC (p: 0.119), 4-no differences were observed in the rest of the analyzed cytokines. These data suggest that IL-17A producing cells (IL3 and Th17) and INF-γ producers (NK, Tc, Th1) have a little contribution in this phase of disease. The present observations agree with the similar levels of IL-2, IL-12p70 and IL-15 found in all groups. In contrast, IL-6 and TNFα, likely derived from monocytes/macrophages, would contribute for cardiac inflammation and dysfunction in Chagas disease.