A guide for the generation of repositories of clinical samples for research on Chagas disease.

Chagas disease, caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, affects over 6 million people, mainly in Latin America. Two different clinical phases, acute and chronic, are recognised. Currently, 2 anti-parasitic drugs are available to treat the disease (nifurtimox and benznidazole), but diagnostic methods require of a relatively complex infrastructure and trained personnel, limiting its widespread use in endemic areas, and the access of patients to treatment.

ELISA F29 -A therapeutic efficacy biomarker in Chagas disease: Evaluation in pediatric patients treated with nifurtimox and followed for 4 years post-treatment.

Background: Measurement of the success of antitrypanosomal treatment for Chagas disease is difficult, particularly in the chronic phase of the disease, because anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies persist in serum for prolonged periods. We studied the effects of nifurtimox administered by two different treatment regimens on the T. cruzi calcium-binding flagellar protein F29 in children diagnosed with Chagas disease measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique (ELISA F29).

Diagnostic Accuracy of Two Molecular Tools for Diagnosis of Congenital Chagas Disease.

Background And Objective: The real prevalence of congenital Chagas disease is undefined because of difficulties in the detection of Trypanosoma cruzi by microscopic examination. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of two molecular diagnostic tools, qPCR and LAMP, in the diagnosis of congenital Chagas disease in a clinical setting.

Methods: To this end, we conducted a prospective cohort study in a tertiary care center, of infants under 9 months of age, born in Buenos Aires to women with Chagas disease.

Serological reactivity against T. cruzi-derived antigens: Evaluation of their suitability for the assessment of response to treatment in chronic Chagas disease.

Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, affects more than 6 million people worldwide. Following a mostly asymptomatic acute phase, the disease progresses to a long-lasting chronic phase throughout which life-threatening disorders to the heart and/or gastrointestinal tract will manifest in about 30% of those chronically infected. During the chronic phase, the parasitemia is low and intermittent, while a high level of anti-T.

Virulence Factors for the Diagnosis of Chagas' Disease.

-Sialidase and cruzipain are important virulence factors from , the etiological agent of Chagas disease, that have highly antigenic domains in their structure and were reported as potential tools for diagnosis of the illness. The aim of the present study is to assess the possibility of using cruzipain and the catalytic domain of -sialidase in a Surface Plasmon Resonance-based immunosensor for the diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease. Immunoassays carried out with canine sera verified that cruzipain allows the detection of anti- antibodies whereas recombinant -sialidase did not yield specific detections, due to the high dilutions of serum used in the immunoassays that hinder the possibility to sense the specific low titer antibodies.

Rapid detection of Trypanosoma cruzi by colorimetric loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP): A potential novel tool for the detection of congenital Chagas infection.

Early diagnosis of congenital Trypanosomacruzi transmission in newborns is essential because babies show high indices of cure. Conventional diagnosis is based on microscopic examination and serology. Molecular diagnosis is a promising alternative to replace conventional diagnosis, although it is not well suited for adoption in laboratories with limited resources.

Predictive role of polymerase chain reaction in the early diagnosis of congenital Trypanosoma cruzi infection.

The efficacy of specific chemotherapy in congenital Chagas disease before the first year of life ranges between 90 and 100%. Between this age and 15 years of age, the efficacy decreases to around 60%. Therefore, early infection detection is a priority in vertical transmission.

Use of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay that utilizes the Tc13Tul antigen of Trypanosoma cruzi to monitor patients after treatment with benznidazole.

Tc13Tul antigen is expressed in the mammalian stages of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas' disease. Here, we designed and validated an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using the recombinant Tc13Tul (Tc13Tul-ELISA) and found that it had 82.5% sensitivity and 97.

Congenital Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Efficacy of its monitoring in an urban reference health center in a non-endemic area of Argentina.

Congenital transmission (CT) has acquired relevance in Chagas disease (CHD). A cohort of pregnant CHD women (4,355) and their babies were studied in the period 1994-2004. Children were excluded when they had received blood transfusions, or were born or had been in endemic areas; CT rate was 6.

Chromosomal size conservation through the cell cycle supports karyotype stability in Trypanosoma cruzi.

The Trypanosoma cruzi karyotype shows an extensive chromosomal size polymorphism. Absence of condensed mitotic chromosomes and chromatin fragility are characteristic features of T. cruzi which would allow DNA breaks and chromosomal rearrangements during cell proliferation.