Importance of CD40/CD40 dyad in the course of infection with Trypanosoma cruzi: Impact of its inhibition.

Chagas heart disease (CHD), caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, consists of a progressive myocarditis which may lead to congestive heart failure or sudden death. Previous work from our laboratory has demonstrated that the experimental infection of mice with T. cruzi positively modulates the expression of CD40 by myocardial cells, whose ligation potentiates IFN-γ-induced IL-6 production.

Imiquimod-loaded nanoarchaeosomes as a promising immunotherapy against Trypanosoma cruzi infection.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of imiquimod-containing nanovesicles prepared with lipids extracted from the hyperhalophile archaebacterium Halorubrum tebenquichense (nanoARC-IMQ) to induce protection against Trypanosoma cruzi infection. The therapeutic efficacy of archaeolipid nanovesicles was assessed in an experimental murine model of acute infection with T. cruzi.

Hit-to-lead optimization of novel 2-alkylaminomethylquinoline derivatives as anti-chagas agents.

Chagas disease is one of the main neglected diseases in the world, being endemic in 21 countries of Latin America. This disease has become a global health problem due to migration of infected people non-endemic countries. Even though this disease affects millions of people, only two drugs are approved for its treatment, benznidazole and nifurtimox, and both have several limitations.

Anti-parasitic effect of vitamin C alone and in combination with benznidazole against Trypanosoma cruzi.

Background: Drugs currently used for the treatment of Chagas' disease, nifurtimox and benznidazole, have a limited effectiveness and toxic side effects. With the aim of finding new therapeutic approaches, in vitro and in vivo anti-Trypanosoma cruzi activity of vitamin C alone and combined with benznidazole were investigated.

Methodology/principal Findings: The trypanocidal activity on epimastigote and trypomastigote forms was evaluated by counting parasites in a Neubauer chamber after treatment with the compounds.

Germacranolide-type sesquiterpene lactones from Smallanthus sonchifolius with promising activity against Leishmania mexicana and Trypanosoma cruzi.

Background: Leishmaniasis and Chagas disease are life-threatening illnesses caused by the protozoan parasites Leishmania spp. and Trypanosoma cruzi, respectively. They are known as "neglected diseases" due to the lack of effective drug treatments and the scarcity of research work devoted to them.

Novel 2-arylazoimidazole derivatives as inhibitors of Trypanosoma cruzi proliferation: Synthesis and evaluation of their biological activity.

In this work, the synthesis of a series of 2-arylazoimidazole derivatives 6-20 has been achieved through the reaction of imidazole with aryldiazonium salts, followed by ultrasound-assisted alkylation. This approach has important advantages including higher yield, shorter reaction times and milder reaction conditions. The structures of the compounds obtained were determined by MS, IR; and H and C NMR.

Trypanocidal and leishmanicidal activities of flavonoids isolated from Stevia satureiifolia var. satureiifolia.

Context Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis produce significant disability and mortality with great social and economic impact. The genus Stevia (Asteraceae) is a potential source of antiprotozoal compounds. Objective Aerial parts of four Stevia species were screened on Trypanosoma cruzi.

Mode of Action of the Sesquiterpene Lactones Psilostachyin and Psilostachyin C on Trypanosoma cruzi.

Trypanosoma cruzi is the causative agent of Chagas' disease, which is a major endemic disease in Latin America and is recognized by the WHO as one of the 17 neglected tropical diseases in the world. Psilostachyin and psilostachyin C, two sesquiterpene lactones isolated from Ambrosia spp., have been demonstrated to have trypanocidal activity.

Brucella abortus Omp19 recombinant protein subcutaneously co-delivered with an antigen enhances antigen-specific T helper 1 memory responses and induces protection against parasite challenge.

The discovery of effective adjuvants for many vaccines especially those with limited commercial appeal, such as vaccines to poverty-related diseases, is required. In this work, we demonstrated that subcutaneous co-administration of mice with the outer membrane protein U-Omp19 from Brucella spp. plus OVA as antigen (Ag) increases Ag-specific T cell proliferation and T helper (Th) 1 immune responses in vitro and in vivo.

A bacterial protease inhibitor protects antigens delivered in oral vaccines from digestion while triggering specific mucosal immune responses.

We report here that a bacterial protease inhibitor from Brucella spp. called U-Omp19 behaves as an ideal constituent for a vaccine formulation against infectious diseases. When co-administered orally with an antigen (Ag), U-Omp19: i) can bypass the harsh environment of the gastrointestinal tract by inhibiting stomach and intestine proteases and consequently increases the half-life of the co-administered Ag at immune inductive sites: Peyer's patches and mesenteric lymph nodes while ii) it induces the recruitment and activation of antigen presenting cells (APCs) and increases the amount of intracellular Ag inside APCs.

Coadministration of cruzipain and GM-CSF DNAs, a new immunotherapeutic vaccine against Trypanosoma cruzi infection.

Therapeutic vaccine research and development are especially important in Chagas disease considering the characteristics of the chronic infection and the number of people in the Americas living with a parasite infection for decades. We have previously reported the efficacy of attenuated Salmonella enterica (S) carrying plasmid encoding cruzipain (SCz) to protect against Trypanosoma cruzi infection. In the present work we investigated whether Cz DNA vaccine immunotherapy could be effective in controlling an ongoing T.

Natural terpenoids from Ambrosia species are active in vitro and in vivo against human pathogenic trypanosomatids.

Among the natural compounds, terpenoids play an important role in the drug discovery process for tropical diseases. The aim of the present work was to isolate antiprotozoal compounds from Ambrosia elatior and A. scabra.

Trypanocidal activity of thioamide-substituted imidazoquinolinone: electrochemical properties and biological effects.

Three thioamide-substituted imidazoquinolinone, which possess a heterocyclic center similar to tryptanthrin and are named C1, C2, and C3, were studied regarding (a) their in vitro anti-Trypanosoma cruzi activity, (b) their cytotoxicity and electrochemical behaviour, and (c) their effect on cell viability, redox state, and mitochondrial function. The assayed compounds showed a significant activity against the proliferative forms, but only C1 showed activity on the trypomastigote form (for C1, IC50  epi = 1.49 μM; IC50  amas = 1.

In vitro evaluation of antiprotozoal and antiviral activities of extracts from Argentinean Mikania species.

The aim of this study was to investigate the antiprotozoal and antiviral activities of four Argentinean Mikania species. The organic and aqueous extracts of Mikania micrantha, M. parodii, M.

Antiparasitic Effect of Vitamin B12 on Trypanosoma cruzi.

A nutritional characteristic of trypanosomatid protozoa is that they need a heme compound as a growth factor. Because of the cytotoxic activity of heme and its structural similarity to cobalamins, we have investigated the in vitro and in vivo effect of vitamin B(12) (or cyanocobalamin) on the different forms of Trypanosoma cruzi. Cyanocobalamin showed a marked antiparasitic activity against epimastigotes (50% inhibitory concentration [IC(50)], 2.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of some novel 1-indanone thiazolylhydrazone derivatives as anti-Trypanosoma cruzi agents.

A series of novel 4-arylthiazolylhydrazones (TZHs) derived from 1-indanones were synthesized in good yields (66-92%) in a simple procedure using microwave irradiation and then characterized by spectroscopy studies. The compounds were evaluated for their in vitro anti-Trypanosoma cruzi activity against the epimastigote, trypomastigote and amastigote forms of the parasite. Most TZHs displayed excellent activity, and were more potent and selective than the reference drug Benznidazole, used in the current chemotherapy.

Synthesis, trypanocidal activity and molecular modeling studies of 2-alkylaminomethylquinoline derivatives.

Research and development of new drugs effective in the treatment of Trypanosoma cruzi infections are a real need for the 16 million people infected in the Americas. In a previous work, a quinoline derivative substituted by a 2-piperidylmethyl moiety showed to be active against Chagas disease and was considered a lead compound for further optimization. A series of ten analogous derivatives were tested against epimastigotes as a first approach.

Combination of CpG-oligodeoxynucleotides with recombinant ROP2 or GRA4 proteins induces protective immunity against Toxoplasma gondii infection.

Synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides containing unmethylated CpG motifs (CpG-ODN) have been characterized as Th1-promoting immunopotentiators, an adjuvant activity desirable for vaccination against intracellular parasites like Toxoplasma gondii. In an attempt to find new antigen-adjuvant combinations that enhance the immunogenicity of antigen candidates for toxoplasma vaccines, we analyzed the extent of protection in mice immunized with ROP2 and GRA4 recombinant proteins when co-administered with CpG-ODN. Both GRA4+CpG-ODN and ROP2+CpG-ODN formulations were shown to induce a strong humoral Th1-biased response characterized by a high IgG(2a) to IgG(1) antibody ratio.

Psilostachyin C: a natural compound with trypanocidal activity.

In this study, the antiprotozoal activity of the sesquiterpene lactone psilostachyin C was investigated. This natural compound was isolated from Ambrosia scabra by bioassay-guided fractionation and was identified by spectroscopic techniques. Psilostachyin C exerted in vitro trypanocidal activity against Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes, trypomastigotes and amastigotes, with 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) values of 0.

Redirection of the immune response to the functional catalytic domain of the cystein proteinase cruzipain improves protective immunity against Trypanosoma cruzi infection.

Despite the strong immune responses elicited after natural infection with Trypanosoma cruzi or vaccination against it, parasite survival suggests that these responses are insufficient or inherently inadequate. T. cruzi contains a major cystein proteinase, cruzipain, which has a catalytic N-terminal domain and a C-terminal extension.

A search for Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense diagnostic antigens by proteomic screening and targeted cloning.

Background: The only available diagnostic method for East African trypanosomiasis is light microscopy of blood samples. A simple immunodiagnostic would greatly aid trypanosomiasis control.

Methodology And Principal Findings: To find trypanosome proteins that are specifically recognised by sera from human sleeping sickness patients, we have screened the Trypanosoma brucei brucei proteome by Western blotting.

Vaccination approaches against Trypanosoma cruzi infection.

In natural infection, the survival of Trypanosoma cruzi, despite the complex immune response elicited including several humoral and cellular components of innate and acquired immunity, suggests that the immune system's natural responses are inherently inadequate. Consequently, it is of paramount importance to find alternatives to direct the immune system before infection, and redirect it after infection, to obtain a prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine. Herein, we review the recent advances in vaccine research and the development of the major antigen candidates, including cruzipain, trans-sialidase, amastigote surface protein, paraflagellar rod protein, among others.

Toxoplasma gondii protease inhibitor-1 (TgPI-1) is a novel vaccine candidate against toxoplasmosis.

The Toxoplasma gondii serin protease inhibitor-1 (TgPI-1) is a dense granule antigen that showed to specifically inhibit trypsin, chymotrypsin and neutrophil elastase, suggesting a possible modulatory role during the parasite invasion process and on the development of the innate immune response. To study the immune-protective value of TgPI-1, C3H/HeN mice were immunized with a recombinant form of the antigen rTgPI-1 combined with alum. All immunized mice produced specific anti-rTgPI-1 immunoglobulins, with high IgG antibody titers and a mixed IgG(1)/IgG(2a) response, with predominance of IgG(1) production.

Trypanocidal and leishmanicidal activities of sesquiterpene lactones from Ambrosia tenuifolia Sprengel (Asteraceae).

Bioassay-guided fractionation of the organic extract of Ambrosia tenuifolia Sprengel (Asteraceae) led to the isolation of two bioactive sesquiterpene lactones with significant trypanocidal and leishmanicidal activities. By spectroscopic methods ((1)H- and (13)C-nuclear magnetic resonance, distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer, correlated spectroscopy, heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence, electron impact-mass spectrometry, and infrared spectroscopy), these compounds were identified as psilostachyin and peruvin. Both compounds showed a marked in vitro trypanocidal activity against Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes with 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) values of less than 2 microg/ml.

Prime-boost immunization with cruzipain co-administered with MALP-2 triggers a protective immune response able to decrease parasite burden and tissue injury in an experimental Trypanosoma cruzi infection model.

Cruzipain (Cz), a key Trypanosoma cruzi enzyme, is a main candidate antigen for vaccines against Chagas' disease. We evaluated a vaccination protocol based on intradermal priming with recombinant Cz and intranasal boosting with rCz co-administered with a derivative of the TLR2/6 agonist MALP-2. Vaccination triggered strong systemic and mucosal antibody responses, and a vigorous cell-mediated immunity characterized by lymphoproliferation, DTH reactivity and IFN-gamma production.