Molecular detection of Trypanosoma cruzi in ocular tissue from putative corneal donors

MARTA STARCENBAUM BOUCHEZ; ELISABETH CITTADINO; GIANFRANCO ALI SANTORO; HÉCTOR FONTANA; LEGUIZAMON MA SUSANA; JUAN BURGOS

Congreso; XXXI Reunión de la Sociedad Argentina deProtozoología; 2019

Molecular detection of Trypanosoma cruzi in ocular tissue fromputative corneal donors Marta Starcenbaum Bouchez, Elisabeth Cittadino, Gianfranco AliSantoro, Héctor Fontana, M. Susana Leguizamón, Juan Burgos Infection by Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, isendemic of America where 6-8 million subjects are infected (prevalence inArgentina 3.6%). Due to heart and intestines are T.cruzi target organs, seropositive individuals are exclude as donors,whereas for kidney transplant the use of both dead or living seropositivedonors to negative recipients is accepted. About cornea transplants, seropositivedonors are rejected even for seropositive acceptors nevertheless WHO consensus makesgeneral indications in which infected donors can be accepted, only in extremecases and subject to the informed consent. This general consideration isapplied for safety without having been, to date, proved the parasite presencein the transplanted tissue.Herein we analyzed ocular tissues (20corneas and corresponding sclera rings, and 7 eye muscles) from ten deceasedseropositive donors (6/4 M/F, 30-74 years old) from Argentina that wereadmitted consecutively at Hospital Santa Lucia in Buenos Aires, Argentina. DNAextraction was carried out by means of QIAgen (DNeasy blood and tissue kit) witha previous incubation with proteinase. DNA integrity was checked by PCRamplification of the 290bp β-actin amplicon. Presence of T. cruzi DNA was analyzed by means of PCR reactions targeted to thevariable region of kinetoplastid DNA (kDNA) (primers 121 and122) and to the nuclear satellite sequence (TCZ1 and TCZ2). Considering tissuesamples, 10% of corneas (2/20), 20% of sclera rings (4/20), and 14.3% of eyemuscles (1/7) have positive PCR findings. From patients analysis, corneas were T. cruzi positive in 20% (2/10) ofcorneas, 40% (4/10) sclera rings, and 25% (1/4) eye muscles. Interestingly, thetwo donors with positive corneas also had sclera positive findings, suggestinghigher parasite burden or a special tissue tropism. This is the first report ofT. cruzi presence in human corneathat bring light on the use of seropositive patients as donors.<!-- /* Font Definitions */@font-face{font-family:"Cambria Math";panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face{font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073786111 1 0 415 0;}@font-face{font-family:AdvEPSTIM;panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;mso-font-alt:"MS Mincho";mso-font-charset:128;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-format:other;mso-font-pitch:auto;mso-font-signature:0 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} /* Style Definitions */p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal{mso-style-unhide:no;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:115%;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:ES-AR;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault{mso-style-type:export-only;mso-default-props:yes;font-size:11.0pt;mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:ES-AR;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoPapDefault{mso-style-type:export-only;margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;}size:612.0pt 792.0pt;margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm;mso-header-margin:35.4pt;mso-footer-margin:35.4pt;mso-paper-source:0;}div.WordSection1{page:WordSection1;}