IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL BIOMARKERS FOR CHAGAS DISEASE IN PATIENTS FROM SALTA, ARGENTINA

ORRILLO S; ZAGO MP; RIOS, LIZETTE; CAMPOS, E. EMANUEL; CARDOZO RM; GARG NJ

Galveston Texas

Jornada; Mc Laughlin Colloquium 2019; 2019

UTMB

Chagas disease is inflicted by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, a zoonotic parasite that can be transmitted using triatomine insects as the vector. The disease is prominent in South America, Mexico, and Central America, and is continually spreading. An estimated 6-7 million people, globally, are infected with this potentially lethal disease. Routes of infection consist of consuming food with triatomine feces contaminated with T. cruzi, blood transfusions, organ transplants, congenital transmission, and laboratory accidents. Benznidazole and nifurtimox are treatment options available. It is common for patients to suffer from unspecific symptoms, or be asymptomatic, leading to lack of treatment. Chronic Chagas disease can ultimately cause death due to congestive heart failure. No biomarkers are available to diagnose the disease at its varying stages or to identify the patients who are at higher risk of developing clinically symptomatic disease. Our preliminary studies in rodent models of Chagas disease have suggested that myosin regulatory light chain 2 (MYL2), gelsolin (GSN), and vinculin (VCL) could potentially serve as biomarkers for Chagas disease. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the efficacy of these biomarkers in diagnosing the severity of human Chagas disease. For this, eighty patients from Salta, Argentina, were classified using the modified Kuschnir stages of Chagasic cardiomyopathy. Patient samples were collected and tested for protein expression of MYL2, GSN, and VCL using western blot analysis to visualize protein concentrations. The experimental design consisted of testing healthy patient serum (H), patients not affected by Chagas but were diagnosed with other cardiomyopathies (OCM), and T. cruzi-infected patients diagnosed as K0, KI, KII, and KIII stages of Chagas disease. Using a larger sample size to investigate our hypothesis, we predict that MYL2, GSN, and VCL will show significantly higher protein concentrations for Chagasic patients in comparison to H and OCM subjects. We will present the updated data at the symposium.