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Precision Health for Chagas Disease: Integrating Parasite and Host Factors to Predict Outcome of Infection and Response to Therapy

Chagas disease, caused by the infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is clinically manifested in approximately one-third of infected people by inflammatory heart disease (cardiomyopathy) and, to a minor degree, gastrointestinal tract disorders (megaesophagus or megacolon). Chagas d...

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Autores principales: Martinez, Santiago J., Romano, Patricia S., Engman, David M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7225773/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32457849
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2020.00210
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author Martinez, Santiago J.
Romano, Patricia S.
Engman, David M.
author_facet Martinez, Santiago J.
Romano, Patricia S.
Engman, David M.
author_sort Martinez, Santiago J.
collection PubMed
description Chagas disease, caused by the infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is clinically manifested in approximately one-third of infected people by inflammatory heart disease (cardiomyopathy) and, to a minor degree, gastrointestinal tract disorders (megaesophagus or megacolon). Chagas disease is a zoonosis transmitted among animals and people through the contact with triatomine bugs, which are found in much of the western hemisphere, including most countries of North, Central and South America, between parallels 45° north (Minneapolis, USA) and south (Chubut Province, Argentina). Despite much research on drug discovery for T. cruzi, there remain only two related agents in widespread use. Likewise, treatment is not always indicated due to the serious side effects of these drugs. On the other hand, the epidemiology and pathogenesis of Chagas disease are both highly complex, and much is known about both. However, it is still impossible to predict what will happen in an individual person infected with T. cruzi, because of the highly variability of parasite virulence and human susceptibility to infection, with no definitive molecular predictors of outcome from either side of the host-parasite equation. In this Minireview we briefly discuss the current state of T. cruzi infection and prognosis and look forward to the day when it will be possible to employ precision health to predict disease outcome and determine whether and when treatment of infection may be necessary.
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spelling pubmed-72257732020-05-25 Precision Health for Chagas Disease: Integrating Parasite and Host Factors to Predict Outcome of Infection and Response to Therapy Martinez, Santiago J. Romano, Patricia S. Engman, David M. Front Cell Infect Microbiol Cellular and Infection Microbiology Chagas disease, caused by the infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is clinically manifested in approximately one-third of infected people by inflammatory heart disease (cardiomyopathy) and, to a minor degree, gastrointestinal tract disorders (megaesophagus or megacolon). Chagas disease is a zoonosis transmitted among animals and people through the contact with triatomine bugs, which are found in much of the western hemisphere, including most countries of North, Central and South America, between parallels 45° north (Minneapolis, USA) and south (Chubut Province, Argentina). Despite much research on drug discovery for T. cruzi, there remain only two related agents in widespread use. Likewise, treatment is not always indicated due to the serious side effects of these drugs. On the other hand, the epidemiology and pathogenesis of Chagas disease are both highly complex, and much is known about both. However, it is still impossible to predict what will happen in an individual person infected with T. cruzi, because of the highly variability of parasite virulence and human susceptibility to infection, with no definitive molecular predictors of outcome from either side of the host-parasite equation. In this Minireview we briefly discuss the current state of T. cruzi infection and prognosis and look forward to the day when it will be possible to employ precision health to predict disease outcome and determine whether and when treatment of infection may be necessary. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-05-08 /pmc/articles/PMC7225773/ /pubmed/32457849 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2020.00210 Text en Copyright © 2020 Martinez, Romano and Engman. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Cellular and Infection Microbiology
Martinez, Santiago J.
Romano, Patricia S.
Engman, David M.
Precision Health for Chagas Disease: Integrating Parasite and Host Factors to Predict Outcome of Infection and Response to Therapy
title Precision Health for Chagas Disease: Integrating Parasite and Host Factors to Predict Outcome of Infection and Response to Therapy
title_full Precision Health for Chagas Disease: Integrating Parasite and Host Factors to Predict Outcome of Infection and Response to Therapy
title_fullStr Precision Health for Chagas Disease: Integrating Parasite and Host Factors to Predict Outcome of Infection and Response to Therapy
title_full_unstemmed Precision Health for Chagas Disease: Integrating Parasite and Host Factors to Predict Outcome of Infection and Response to Therapy
title_short Precision Health for Chagas Disease: Integrating Parasite and Host Factors to Predict Outcome of Infection and Response to Therapy
title_sort precision health for chagas disease: integrating parasite and host factors to predict outcome of infection and response to therapy
topic Cellular and Infection Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7225773/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32457849
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2020.00210
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