Academic Journal
Parasite burden, genetic profiling and geographic distribution of Trypanosoma cruzi detected in chronic Chagas disease patients from Córdoba, Argentina.
| Τίτλος: | Parasite burden, genetic profiling and geographic distribution of Trypanosoma cruzi detected in chronic Chagas disease patients from Córdoba, Argentina. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Velázquez López DA; Centro de Investigación de la Enfermedad de Chagas y Leishmaniasis (CIECyL), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina; Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud (INICSA/CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina., Blasco RL; Centro de Investigación de la Enfermedad de Chagas y Leishmaniasis (CIECyL), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina., Montamat MS; Centro de Investigación de la Enfermedad de Chagas y Leishmaniasis (CIECyL), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina., Bazán PC; Centro de Investigación de la Enfermedad de Chagas y Leishmaniasis (CIECyL), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina; Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud (INICSA/CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina., Campagno LP; Centro de Investigación de la Enfermedad de Chagas y Leishmaniasis (CIECyL), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina; Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia Villa María (CIT-VM), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Villa María, Argentina., Barrionuevo CN; Centro de Investigación de la Enfermedad de Chagas y Leishmaniasis (CIECyL), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina; Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud (INICSA/CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina., Dimmer JA; Centro de Investigación de la Enfermedad de Chagas y Leishmaniasis (CIECyL), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina; Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia Villa María (CIT-VM), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Villa María, Argentina., Rivarola HW; Centro de Investigación de la Enfermedad de Chagas y Leishmaniasis (CIECyL), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina; Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud (INICSA/CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina., Báez AL; Centro de Investigación de la Enfermedad de Chagas y Leishmaniasis (CIECyL), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina; Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud (INICSA/CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina., Lo Presti MS; Centro de Investigación de la Enfermedad de Chagas y Leishmaniasis (CIECyL), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina; Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud (INICSA/CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. Electronic address: drasilvinalopresti@fcm.unc.edu.ar. |
| Πηγή: | Acta tropica [Acta Trop] 2026 Apr; Vol. 276, pp. 108030. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Feb 22. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 0370374 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1873-6254 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 0001706X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Acta Trop Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: Amsterdam : Elsevier Original Publication: Basel. |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Trypanosoma cruzi*/genetics , Trypanosoma cruzi*/classification , Trypanosoma cruzi*/isolation & purification , Chagas Disease*/parasitology , Chagas Disease*/epidemiology , Parasite Load* , Genetic Profile*, Argentina/epidemiology ; Chagas Cardiomyopathy/parasitology ; Chagas Cardiomyopathy/epidemiology ; Humans ; Male ; Female ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Chronic Disease ; Aged ; Genotype ; Genetic Variation ; Molecular Typing ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Young Adult |
| Περίληψη: | Chagas disease (CD) exhibits marked clinical heterogeneity during its chronic phase, which has been partially attributed to the genetic diversity of Trypanosoma cruzi [which is currently classified into six Discrete Typing Units (DTUs, Tc I - Tc VI)]. However, establishing a direct genotype-phenotype correlation remains challenging. We conducted a cross-sectional study in 202 chronic CD patients from Córdoba, Argentina, combining molecular typing (mini-exon, 24Sα rRNA, 18S rRNA), quantitative PCR-based parasite load estimation, and clinical stratification according to cardiomyopathy presence and severity. The predominant DTU (n = 129) was Tc V (n = 90; 70 %), followed by Tc II (n = 35; 27 %) and Tc VI (n = 4; 3 %), consistent with regional transmission patterns. No significant association was observed between infecting DTU and the overall presence of cardiomyopathy. An association between Tc V and more severe cardiac involvement emerged in subgroup analyses, but it should be interpreted cautiously due to limited sample size. Circulating parasite load showed high inter-individual variability and was not significantly associated with sex, clinical group, or infecting DTU. Dyslipidemia was associated with the presence of cardiomyopathy, and hypertension with the occurrence of a more severe condition. Our findings could be explained by a multifactorial model of chronic CD pathogenesis, in which clinical outcomes are shaped by the combined effects of parasite diversity, multiclonality, host factors, and historical epidemiological exposures. These results highlight the need for integrative approaches to better understand disease progression. (Copyright © 2026 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Cardiomyopathy; Chagas disease; Genetic diversity; Parasite load; Trypanosoma cruzi; chronic infection; discrete typing units (DTUs) |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260224 Date Completed: 20260708 Latest Revision: 20260708 |
| Update Code: | 20260708 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.actatropica.2026.108030 |
| PMID: | 41734825 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1873-6254 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.actatropica.2026.108030 |