Trypanosoma cruzi Archives - Page 3 of 8 - Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases

Two CTEGD trainees receive AHA fellowships

Donna Huber on March 12, 2024

by Donna Huber Baihetiya “Barna” Baierna, a cellular biology graduate student in Silvia Moreno’s laboratory, received an American Heart Association Pre-doctoral Fellowship. It will fund her training for the next two years as she studies the mitochondrion of Toxoplasma gondii. Baierna grew up wanting to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a scientist. “My …

Trypanosoma cruzi heme responsive gene (TcHRG) plays a central role in orchestrating heme uptake in epimastigotes

Donna Huber on December 13, 2023

Trypanosoma cruzi, a heme auxotrophic parasite, can control intracellular heme content by modulating heme responsive gene (TcHRG) expression when a free heme source is added to an axenic culture. Herein, we explored the role of TcHRG protein in regulating the uptake of heme derived from hemoglobin in epimastigotes. We demonstrate that the endogenous TcHRG (protein …

Chagas disease research in the news

Donna Huber on August 23, 2023

DDN Dialogues Rick Tarleton was recently interviewed for the Drug Discovery News podcast. Listen as he talks about his research into new drug treatments for Chagas disease. A written transcript is available on DDN's website. KFF Health News Rick Tarleton, along with Drew Etheridge's lab, was featured in a KFF Health News story about Chagas …

cGAS-STING Pathway Activation during Trypanosoma cruzi Infection Leads to Tissue-Dependent Parasite Control

Donna Huber on August 21, 2023

Host cell invasion by Trypanosoma cruzi is a markedly silent process, with limited host transcriptional changes indicative of innate immune recognition, except for a modest type I IFN (IFN-I) response. In this study, we show that T. cruzi-induced IFN-β production was nearly abolished in primary murine cGAS-/- or stimulator of IFN genes (STING)-deficient (STINGGt) …

Diagnosis and Treatment of a Natural Infection with Trypanosoma Cruzi (Chagas Disease) in a Symptomatic De Brazza’s Monkey (Cercopithecus Neglectus) in Alabama

Donna Huber on July 7, 2023

Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, is a zoonotic, vector-borne, protozoan hemoflagellate with a wide host range. An 11-yr-old, captive-bred male De Brazza’s monkey (Cercopithecus neglecus) presented with weight loss despite normal appetite. Examination revealed hypoglycemia, nonregenerative anemia, and many trypanosomes on a blood smear. A whole blood sample was PCR-positive for T. …

Frequency Variation and Dose Modification of Benznidazole Administration for the Treatment of Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in Mice, Dogs, and Nonhuman Primates

Donna Huber on April 11, 2023

Trypanosoma cruzi naturally infects a broad range of mammalian species and frequently results in the pathology that has been most extensively characterized in human Chagas disease. Currently employed treatment regimens fail to achieve parasitological cure of T. cruzi infection in the majority of cases. In this study, we have extended our previous investigations of more …

Delayed Activation of T Cells at the Site of Infection Facilitates the Establishment of Trypanosoma cruzi in Both Naive and Immune Hosts

Donna Huber on January 25, 2023

Although parasite entry through breaks in the skin or mucosa is one of the main routes of natural transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi, little is known about the host cell types initially invaded nor the ability of those host cells to initiate immune responses at the site of infection. To gain insights into these early events, …

Epitopes in the Glycosylphosphatidylinositol Attachment Signal Peptide of Trypanosoma cruzi Mucin Proteins Generate Robust But Delayed and Nonprotective CD8+ T Cell Responses

Donna Huber on January 4, 2023

Infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi elicits substantial CD8+ T cell responses that disproportionately target epitopes encoded in the large trans-sialidase (TS) gene family. Within the C57BL/6 infection model, a significant proportion (30-40%) of the T. cruzi-specific CD8+ T cell response targets two immunodominant TS epitopes, TSKb18 and TSKb20. However, both TS-specific CD8+ T …

B cell responses in chronic Chagas disease: Waning of Trypanosoma cruzi-specific antibody-secreting cells following successful etiological treatment

Donna Huber on December 26, 2022

Background: A drawback in the treatment of chronic Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) is the long time required to achieve complete loss of serological reactivity, the standard for determining treatment efficacy. Methods: Antibody-secreting and memory B cells specific for Trypanosoma cruzi and their degree of differentiation were evaluated in adult and pediatric subjects with chronic Chagas disease prior …

Prophylactic low-dose, bi-weekly benznidazole treatment fails to prevent Trypanosoma cruzi infection in dogs under intense transmission pressure

Donna Huber on October 31, 2022

Trypanosoma cruzi naturally infects a wide variety of wild and domesticated mammals, in addition to humans. Depending on the infection dose and other factors, the acute infection can be life-threatening, and in all cases, the risk of chagasic heart disease is high in persistently infected hosts. Domestic, working, and semi-feral dogs in the Americas are …

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