Del laboratorio a la clínica
Chagas disease (CD), also known as American trypanosomiasis, is an infectious illness caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. CD occurred in two phases, an acute infection with unspecific symptoms that is followed by the chronic infection. After several years of starting the chronic phas...
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| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Publicado: |
2019
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| Acceso en línea: | https://bdigital.uncu.edu.ar/fichas.php?idobjeto=14436 |
| Sumario: | Chagas disease (CD), also known as American trypanosomiasis, is an infectious illness caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. CD occurred in two phases, an acute infection with unspecific symptoms that is followed by the chronic infection. After several years of starting the chronic phase, 20% to 35% of the infected individuals will develop irreversible lesions of the autonomous nervous system in the heart, esophagus, colon and the peripheral nervous system. Currently there is around 8 million people infected with T. cruzi mainly in Latin America where CD remains one of the biggest public health problems, causing incapacity in infected individuals and more than 10 000 deaths per year. The global expansion of CD occurred by the transport of T. cruzi from endemic countries to other places of the world, trough infected people. Due to its difficulty of cure and the high prevalence, CD has become the object of study in many countries worldwide. Improvement of diagnosis of the infection and reduction of parasitic load of infected people are the most important actions to reduce transmission. Furthermore, due to parasite persistence is crucial to the development and progression of Chagas cardiomyopathy, anti-parasitic treatment in the chronic phase of Chagas disease to prevent complications is currently recommended. The general aim of this project is the development of two new therapies for the etiological treatment of Chagas Disease. We propose the use of Carvedilol and Benznidazole combined with Difluoromethylornithine. Preliminary results indicated that these drugs affect parasitic survival and increase susceptibility of T. cruzi to BNZ, respectively. Both compounds are currently approved for the treatment of other pathologies, therefore, if the efficacy of these therapies is confirmed in models of murine infection, the passage to clinical studies would be quick and direct. |
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