Autophagy is required for the Trypanosoma cruzi elimination in macrophages by xenophagy

VANRELL MC; ROMANO PS; CASASSA AF

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Reunión Conjunta de Sociedades de Biociencias; 2017

Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiologic agent of Chagas, an endemic disease of Latin-American countries. Autophagy is a cellular process required for the removal of aged organelles and cytosolic components through lysosomal degradation. In previous studies, we observed that mice deficient in autophagy displayed a more aggressive infection indicating that this process could be participating as a component of the immune response against the parasite. The main objective of this work was the study the participation of xenophagy in the elimination of T. cruzi in macrophages. Xenophagy is a specialized type of autophagy responsible for the capture and elimination of intracellular microorganisms in macrophages. To study this process we detect specific xenophagic-related proteins in peritoneal cells obtained from C57wt mice and C57 Beclin-1 +/- mutant mice (deficient in autophagy) that was previously infected with trypomastigotes of T. cruzi Y strain. We also infected Raw cells under different conditions of autophagy inhibition. Data showed that infected macrophages displayed higher levels of LC3 expression compared with non-infected cells. This LC3 was recruited surround the parasitic bodies in the cell cytoplasm. We also observed that when autophagy is inhibited, the number of amastigotes per cell increased. Other proteins involved in xenophagy were found decorating the parasites. We conclude that the autophagic pathway is participating in the elimination of intracellular amastigotes in macrophages by xenophagy.