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Th17 and regulatory T cells evaluation in patients with the digestive form of chronic Chagas disease

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Author(s):
Mariana Miziara de Abreu Teodoro
Total Authors: 1
Document type: Master's Dissertation
Press: Botucatu. 2016-03-22.
Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Medicina. Botucatu
Defense date:
Advisor: Sueli Aparecida Calvi; Ângela Maria Victoriano de Campos Soares; Lucilene Delazari dos Santos
Abstract

Chagas disease (CD) whose etiological agent is the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) in recent years became a serious problem of public health even in nonendemic countries. One important challenge for the researchers of Chagas disease is to establish the events that lead some patients to develop asymptomatic or indeterminate chronic disease, while others undergo severe disease with lesions in cardiac or gastrointestinal tissues. Some studies have suggested that absence of clinical symptoms in individuals with the indeterminate chronic form is associated to a fine control of effector immune responses against the parasite that avoid a perpetuated inflammatory process which results in tissue injury. There are no studies aiming to confirm this mechanism in patients with digestive form of the disease, particularly in relation to the modulatory control by Treg cells of effector mechanisms involving Th17. Here, we studied in patients with the digestive form of CD and in those with the indeterminate or asymptomatic form of the disease, the ratio Th17/Treg activation by evaluating the frequency of Th17 and Tregs cells by flow cytometry, mRNA expression for Rorγt and Foxp3, the transcription factors involved in the differentiation of these cells respectively as well as the levels of IL-17a and IL-10 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells culture supernatants. We showed that in patients with digestive form of the disease there is an imbalance in the ratio Th17/Treg cells activation in favor of Th17, while in patients with the indeterminate form, this imbalance favour Treg activation. Our findings support the hypothesis that in contrast with indeterminate patients a non regulatory environment observed in patients with digestive CD, which results in an exacerbated inflammatory response exerted by Th17, due to lower Treg activation, may be responsible for tissue lesions in these patients. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 13/02223-7 - Analysis of the response pattern Th17, and regulatory T cells and proteome in patients with chronic digestive Chagas disease
Grantee:Mariana Miziara de Abreu Teodoro
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master