Antiangiogenic and antitumor effects of Trypanosoma cruzi Calreticulin.

Background: In Latin America, 18 million people are infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas' disease, with the greatest economic burden. Vertebrate calreticulins (CRT) are multifunctional, intra- and extracellular proteins. In the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) they bind calcium and act as chaperones.

Serum antibodies to Trypanosoma cruzi antigens in Atacameños patients from highland of northern Chile.

In the present work we have investigated the serum antibody spectrum to parasite antigens involved in human T. cruzi infection. Analysis was performed by conventional serology (IHA, IFAT and ELISA), complement-mediated lysis, anti-gal antibody assay and reactivity against recombinant and synthetic peptides and metacyclic antigens by immunowestern-blotting.

Biochemical, immunological, and biological characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi populations of the Andean north of Chile.

Twenty-one Trypanosoma cruzi stocks isolated from Triatoma infestans and humans of the Chilean Andean highlands were studied at the genotypic level by schizodeme and molecular karyotype analyses, which allowed a clear distinction of the parasites from those hosts. A phenotypical characterization was performed by proteolytic activity after electrophoretic fractionation without discrimination among the stocks. Metacyclic trypomastigotes obtained in vitro proved to be infective to Swiss mice and the study of immune response and biological behavior was assessed.