Role of Inflammasome Components in Innate Immune Response Against T. cruzi Infection in Chagasic Cardiomyopathy Patients

MENDOZA, H; DEY, N; ZAGO, MP; NUÑEZ, S; WAN, X; GARG NJ

Jornada; UTMB Graduate Student Research Forum; 2012

Chagas disease caused by T. cruzi is endemic in Latin America and an emerging disease in the US and other developed countries. The clinical course of the disease can be broadly categorized into three stages?Initial, Intermediate and Chronic. Chagas disease pathogenesis has previously been shown associated with inflammatory responses including ROS production. In this study, we examined key events related to innate responses in chagasic patients. Previously, RNA isolated from T. cruzi infected macrophages was used to profile the expression of 84 key genes involved in the function of inflammasomes, protein complexes involved in innate immunity and NLR signaling by RT-PCR arrays (QIAGEN Inc., CA). Twelve genes expressing inflammasome components (AIM2, NLRP3, NLRC5), toll-like receptors (TLR2, TLR9), adaptor molecules (MYD88), cytokines or chemokines (TNF-α, IL1-β, CCL2, CXCL1, CXCL2), and cellular transcription factors (NFB-1A) were selected based on the results of the RT-PCR arrays for further analysis in Chagasic patients. To identify the role of these components by quantifying differential gene expression we used peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from patients in various stages of Chagas disease.