Interactions of three molecules from Triatoma infestans midgut with the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi: an insight of Chagas disease vector- parasite relationships

• Grant number: 12/00723-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2012
• End date: May 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Aparecida Sadae Tanaka
• Grantee: Diego de Souza Buarque
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Chagas' disease or American trypanosomiasis represents a serious public health problem in almost all countries of Latin America and affects about 8 million people. This disease is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to vertebrate hosts through feces of insect vectors from Triatominae subfamily, including Triatoma infestans, which is one of the most important Chagas disease vectors in Latin America. Moreover, there is neither a vaccine nor a preventive treatment to cure Chagas disease and, for this reason, the interruption of T. cruzi transmission has been limited to chemical control of insect vectors using insecticides. The protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi colonizes the intestinal tract of T. infestans which is able to produces molecules of innate immunity response. However, there is little information about interactions of these molecules with T. cruzi. According our results, three molecules from T. infestans midgut (a cysteine proteases inhibitor from cystatin family, a nitric oxide carrier similar to a nitrophorin and a possible lectin) were up-regulated upon T. cruzi infection. Therefore, this project aims to characterize the role of these molecules in relation to interaction of T. infestans with T. cruzi, identifying the processes in which these molecules are involved and providing important information about modulation of T. cruzi inside of insect vector. This proposal will allow understanding some aspects of parasite-Chagas disease vector relationships.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BUARQUE, DIEGO S.; GOMES, CICERA M.; ARAUJO, RICARDO N.; PEREIRA, MARCOS H.; FERREIRA, ROBERTA C.; GUARNERI, ALESSANDRA A.; TANAKA, APARECIDA S.. A new antimicrobial protein from the anterior midgut of Triatoma infestans mediates Trypanosoma cruzi establishment by controlling the microbiota. Biochimie, v. 123, p. 138-143, APR 2016. (12/03657-8, 12/00723-0)

SOARES, TATIANE S.; BUARQUE, DIEGO S.; QUEIROZ, BRUNA R.; GOMES, CICERA M.; BRAZ, GLORIA R. C.; ARAUJO, RICARDO N.; PEREIRA, MARCOS H.; GUARNERI, ALESSANDRA A.; TANAKA, APARECIDA S.. A Kazal-type inhibitor is modulated by Trypanosoma cruzi to control microbiota inside the anterior midgut of Rhodnius prolixus. Biochimie, v. 112, p. 41-48, MAY 2015. (12/03657-8, 12/00723-0)

BUARQUE, DIEGO S.; BRAZ, GLORIA R. C.; MARTINS, RAFAEL M.; TANAKA-AZEVEDO, ANITA M.; GOMES, CICERA M.; OLIVEIRA, FELIPE A. A.; SCHENKMAN, SERGIO; TANAKA, APARECIDA S.. Differential Expression Profiles in the Midgut of Triatoma infestans Infected with Trypanosoma cruzi. PLoS One, v. 8, n. 5, MAY 2 2013. (05/03514-9, 12/03657-8, 12/00723-0)