Clinical and epidemiological aspects of chronic Chagas disease from Southern Brazil

Advances in the Understanding and Treatment of Chronic Chagas Cardiomyopathy

Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC) poses significant health challenges not only in Latin America but also in non-endemic regions due to global migration. The complexity and severity of CCC call for an updated and thorough review to inform clinical practices and direct future research efforts. This review seeks to consolidate current knowledge on CCC, emphasizing diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic facets to facilitate better management and understanding of the disease. An exhaustive examination was conducted, analyzing peer-reviewed articles published between January 2020 and April 2024, sourced from prominent medical databases such as PubMed and Scopus. The review delineates crucial aspects of CCC pathophysiology, evaluates patient outcomes, identifies diagnostic challenges, and assesses treatment efficacy. Our findings prompt the need for revised clinical guidelines and stress the importance of continued research to enhance therapeutic strategies and disease comprehension. It is imperative that future studies address these identified gaps to advance patient care and treatment options for CCC.

Small molecule mediators of host-T. cruzi-environment interactions in Chagas disease

Small molecules (less than 1,500 Da) include major biological signals that mediate host-pathogen-microbiome communication. They also include key intermediates of metabolism and critical cellular building blocks. Pathogens present with unique nutritional needs that restrict pathogen colonization or promote tissue damage. In parallel, parts of host metabolism are responsive to immune signaling and regulated by immune cascades. These interactions can trigger both adaptive and maladaptive metabolic changes in the host, with microbiome-derived signals also contributing to disease progression. In turn, targeting pathogen metabolic needs or maladaptive host metabolic changes is an important strategy to develop new treatments for infectious diseases. Trypanosoma cruzi is a single-celled eukaryotic pathogen and the causative agent of Chagas disease, a neglected tropical disease associated with cardiac and intestinal dysfunction. Here, we discuss the role of small molecules during T. cruzi infection in its vector and in the mammalian host. We integrate these findings to build a theoretical interpretation of how maladaptive metabolic changes drive Chagas disease and extrapolate on how these findings can guide drug development.

Characterization of Patients With Heart Failure of Chagas Etiology in Colombia: An Analysis Based on the Colombian Registry of Heart Failure (RECOLFACA)

Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCM) represents a relevant origin of Heart Failure (HF) in countries where the disease is endemic. CCM exhibits distinct myocardial involvement and is associated with a poorer prognosis compared to different HF etiologies. The aim is to explain the features and prognosis of individuals with HF resultant to CCM registered in the Colombian Registry of Heart Failure (RECOLFACA). RECOLFACA registry enrolled 2528 adult patients with HF. A comparison was made between patients diagnosed with CCM and those diagnosed with other etiologies of HF. Eighty-eight patients (3.5%) present CCM diagnosis. The individuals diagnosed with both HF and CCM were notably younger in age, had less comorbidities, poorer functional class, and significantly inferior ejection fraction. Finally, the presence of CCM diagnosis was linked to a substantially elevated mortality risk throughout the follow-up period (HR 2.01; 95% CI, 1.01-4.00) according to a multivariate model adjusted. CCM represents an important etiology of HF in Colombia, drawing attention to a distinct clinical profile and a higher risk of mortality compared to other HF etiologies.

Diagnosis and management of chagasic cardiomyopathy patients in several institutions in Argentina

Introduction

According to estimates by the World Health Organization, the infection and disease caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi affects almost 6 million people, and more than 1 million suffer chagasic cardiomyopathy (Ch-CMP). It is estimated that 376,000 of these individuals live in Argentina. This study describes the characteristics and medical management of individuals with Ch-CMP in Argentina.

Methods

This is a descriptive, retrospective, cross-sectional study on the diagnosis and clinical and therapeutic evaluation of patients with Ch-MCP using historical records collected from different medical institutions in the country between 1 January 2018 and 30 June 2021.

Results

During this period, 652 patients (mean age 61.2 years ± 12.9) were included, with women accounting for 60.3% of the sample. The diagnosis of cardiac insufficiency was 36.0% and 64.4% had arrhythmias. The most common cardiovascular risk factors detected were arterial hypertension (69.5%), smoking (56.6%), and diabetes (20.9%). Less than half of the subjects (45.4%) had been studied by electrocardiogram (ECG), chest X-ray, and echocardiogram. ECG studies showed conduction disorders (38.8%), left ventricular hypertrophy (28.1%), ventricular extrasystoles (22.0%), complete right bundle branch block (8.6%), and atrioventricular block (2.6%). According to the Kuschnir classification, 21.4% of the study subjects were in Grade 3.

Conclusions

The patients included in the study had a similar clinical presentation and history of the disease to those published in other studies. When evaluating the medical practices, we found that patients were inadequately studied. Although it is difficult to estimate the fraction of the total number of patients represented by the present study, the study allowed us to establish that the care received by patients was not adequate.

Prevalence of digestive disorders associated with imported Chagas disease (PADChI study): an observational study

BACKGROUND

Chagas disease (CD) is a parasitic disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, in which up to 10-20% of those affected may suffer digestive disorders. Multiple studies have been carried out on CD in non-endemic countries, mainly related to cardiological involvement. However, digestive disorders have not been analyzed in such depth. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of digestive disorders in imported CD at the time of first care.

METHODS

An observational cross-sectional descriptive analysis of imported CD was performed. Chagasic structural damage and infectious digestive comorbidity were evaluated. The association between Chagasic structural damage and heart disease in Chagas patients was also investigated.

RESULTS

After reviewing a total of 1,216 medical records, those of 464 patients were selected for analysis. Globally, the prevalence of digestive disorders in imported Chagas was 57.76%, 95% CI (53.25-62.27). The prevalence of comorbidity of infectious diseases was 40.73% CI 95% (36.25-45.22). Colonic abnormalities were found in 84 of 378 barium enema patients. CD-related esophageal abnormalities were present in 63 of 380 patients studied with esophagogram.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of digestive disorders associated with CD is high, so the presence of infectious diseases (mainly parasitic and H. pylori infection) should be ruled out. It is important to exclude structural involvement in all symptomatic patients, and asymptomatic patients should also be considered and offered.

Exhausted PD-1+ TOX+ CD8+ T Cells Arise Only in Long-Term Experimental Trypanosoma cruzi Infection

Infection with Trypanosoma cruzi remains the most important neglected zoonosis in Latin America. This infection does not lead to specific symptoms in the acute phase, but chronic infection can result in Chagas disease (CD) with cardiac and/or gastrointestinal manifestations that can lead to death. CD8+ T cells are highly effective and essential to control this infection, but fail to eliminate all parasites. In this study, we show that the CD8+ T cells are modulated by the transient induction of co-inhibitory receptors during acute infection of C57BL/6 mice. Therapeutic intervention strategies with blocking antibodies only had a marginal effect on the elimination of parasite reservoirs. Only long-term chronic infection gave rise to dysfunctional CD8+ T cells, which were characterized by high expression of the inhibitory receptor PD-1 and the co-expression of the transcription factor TOX, which plays a crucial role in the maintenance of the exhausted phenotype. PD-1+ TOX+ CD8+ T cells isolated from the site of infection produced significantly less IFN-γ, TNF-α and Granzyme B than their PD-1- TOX- CD8+ T cell counterparts after T. cruzi-specific stimulation ex vivo. Taken together, we provide evidence that, in the context of experimental infection of mice, the magnitude of the CD8+ T cell response in the acute phase is sufficient for parasite control and cannot be further increased by targeting co-inhibitory receptors. In contrast, persistent long-term chronic infection leads to an increase of exhausted T cells within the tissues of persistence. To our knowledge, this is the first description of infection-induced CD8+ T cells with an exhausted phenotype and reduced cytokine production in muscles of T. cruzi-infected mice.

Resveratrol and Curcumin for Chagas Disease Treatment—A Systematic Review

Chagas disease (CD) is a neglected protozoan infection caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, which affects about 7 million people worldwide. There are two available drugs in therapeutics, however, they lack effectiveness for the chronic stage—characterized mainly by cardiac (i.e., cardiomyopathy) and digestive manifestations (i.e., megaesophagus, megacolon). Due to the involvement of the immuno-inflammatory pathways in the disease’s progress, compounds exhibiting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity seem to be effective for controlling some clinical manifestations, mainly in the chronic phase. Resveratrol (RVT) and curcumin (CUR) are natural compounds with potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and their cardioprotective effect have been proposed to have benefits to treat CD. Such effects could decrease or block the progression of the disease’s severity. The purpose of this systematic review is to analyze the effectiveness of RVT and CUR in animal and clinical research for the treatment of CD. The study was performed according to PRISMA guidelines and it was registered on PROSPERO (CDR42021293495). The results did not find any clinical study, and the animal research was analyzed according to the SYRCLES risk of bias tools and ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines. We found 9 eligible reports in this study. We also discuss the potential RVT and CUR derivatives for the treatment of CD as well.