ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ROLE OF GALECTIN 8 IN TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI-INDUCED MYOCARDITIS

BERTELLI, A; SANMARCO, LILIANA M.; PASCUALE, C; LEGUIZAMÓN, M. SUSANA

Congreso; XXXV Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Society of Protozoology; 2018

Galectins are family of lectins that have affinity for B-galactosides. Galectin-8 (Gal-8), which belongs to the tandem repeat group, possesses two carbohydrate recognition domains connected by a linker peptide. It is widely distributed in tissues and secreted to the extracellular media, acting in an autocrine/paracrine manner. It participates in cellular adhesion, migration, and apoptosis, mainly in cancer and autoimmune disorders. Different authors have also proposed Gal-8 to be involved in pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory events. The aim of our work was to analyze the role of Gal-8 in an inflammatory context induced by pathogens. Our model is a chronic murine infection induced by T. cruzi, in C57BL/6J (WT) and Gal-8 knockout (Gal-8KO) male mice. Previously, we have reported that the inflammation score as well as the evaluation of fibrosis in skeletal and cardiac muscle of infected Gal-8KO mice was significantly higher compared to infected WT mice, but no difference was found in parasitic load between groups. Chagasic cardiomyopathy is a chronic disease, whose development is based on the induction of a strong inflammation by Trypanosoma cruzi persistence in cardiac tissue. In this work we deepen in the analysis of the cardiac inflammation developed in our chronic model.