University of Georgia
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors

Tag: Rick Tarleton

Reduced Trypanosoma cruzi-specific humoral response and enhanced T cell immunity after treatment interruption with benznidazole in chronic Chagas disease

Donna Huber on March 7, 2021

Background: Interruption of benznidazole therapy due to the appearance of adverse effects, which is presumed to lead to treatment failure, is a major drawback in the treatment of chronic Chagas disease. Methods: Trypanosoma cruzi-specific humoral and T cell responses, T cell phenotype and parasite load were measured to compare the outcome in 33 subjects with chronic Chagas …

Strain-specific genome evolution in Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease

Donna Huber on January 28, 2021

The protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi almost invariably establishes life-long infections in humans and other mammals, despite the development of potent host immune responses that constrain parasite numbers. The consistent, decades-long persistence of T. cruzi in human hosts arises at least in part from the remarkable level of genetic diversity in multiple families of genes encoding the …

Rick Tarleton elected AAAS Fellow

Donna Huber on November 30, 2020

Photo credit: Andrew Tucker University of Georgia researcher Rick Tarleton has been elected as a 2020 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow by the AAAS Council “for distinguished contributions to the field of biological sciences, particularly for his research contributions and leadership to control Chagas Disease.” Tarleton is a Regents Professor in …

Outbreak News Today Interviews Rick Tarleton

Donna Huber on November 9, 2020

Recently, Dr. Rick Tarleton was interviewed by Outbreak News Today about his recently published study in Science Translational Medicine. [button size='large' style='' text='Listen Now' icon='' icon_color='BA0C2F' link='http://outbreaknewstoday.com/chagas-disease-treatment-research-with-rick-tarleton-phd-81114/' target='_self' color='' hover_color='' border_color='' hover_border_color='' background_color='' hover_background_color='' font_style='' font_weight='' text_align='' margin='']

Stronger treatments could cure Chagas disease

Donna Huber on October 30, 2020

3D (left) and single slice (right) light sheet microscopy imaging of the heart of a mouse infected with two strains (red and blue) of Trypanosoma cruzi. (Image credit: Fernando Sanchez-Valdez) Research shows stronger but less frequent drug doses could be key Researchers in the University of Georgia’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases have found …

A modified drug regimen clears active and dormant trypanosomes in mouse models of Chagas disease

Donna Huber on October 28, 2020

A major contributor to treatment failure in Chagas disease, caused by infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is that current treatment regimens do not address the drug insensitivity of transiently dormant T. cruzi amastigotes. Here, we demonstrated that use of a currently available drug in a modified treatment regimen of higher individual doses, given less frequently over …

Cutting Edge: Augmenting Muscle MHC Expression Enhances Systemic Pathogen Control at the Expense of T Cell Exhaustion

Donna Huber on June 26, 2020

Myocytes express low levels of MHC class I (MHC I), perhaps influencing the ability of CD8+ T cells to efficiently detect and destroy pathogens that invade muscle. Trypanosoma cruzi infects many cell types but preferentially persists in muscle, and we asked if this tissue-dependent persistence was linked to MHC expression. Inducible enhancement of skeletal muscle MHC I in …

New Scheme of Intermittent Benznidazole Administration in Patients Chronically Infected With Trypanosoma cruzi: Clinical, Parasitological and Serological Assessment After Three Years of Follow-Up

Donna Huber on June 22, 2020

Introduction. In a pilot study, we showed that intermittent administration of benznidazole in chronic Chagas disease patients resulted in a low rate of treatment suspension and therapeutic failure, as assessed by qPCR at the end of treatment. Herein, a three-year post-treatment follow-up study of the same cohort of patients is presented. Methods. The treatment scheme consisted …

Chagas Disease Drug Discovery: Multiparametric Lead Optimization against Trypanosoma cruzi in Acylaminobenzothiazole Series

Donna Huber on November 18, 2019

Acylaminobenzothiazole hits were identified as potential inhibitors of Trypanosoma cruzi replication, a parasite responsible for Chagas disease. We selected compound 1 for lead optimization, aiming to improve in parallel its anti-T. cruzi activity (IC50 = 0.63 μM) and its human metabolic stability (human clearance = 9.57 mL/min/g). A total of 39 analogues of 1 were synthesized and tested in vitro. We established a …