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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 2006, p. 2167-2171, Vol. 44, No. 6
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02124-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Variability of Kinetoplast DNA Gene Signatures of Trypanosoma cruzi II Strains from Patients with Different Clinical Forms of Chagas' Disease in Brazil

Eliane Lages-Silva,1* Luis Eduardo Ramírez,1 André Luiz Pedrosa,1 Eduardo Crema,2 Lúcia Maria da Cunha Galvão,3 Sérgio Danilo Junho Pena,4 Andrea Mara Macedo,4 and Egler Chiari3

Departamento de Ciências Biológicas,1 Departamento de Cirurgia, Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba,2 Departamento de Parasitologia,3 Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil4

Received 10 October 2005/ Returned for modification 3 January 2006/ Accepted 3 April 2006

The clinical course of Chagas' disease varies widely among different patients and geographic regions. For reasons that are not completely understood but involve host and parasite factors, some patients never develop the disease while others present cardiac and/or gastrointestinal symptoms. Many studies have been conducted in order to correlate the genetic variability of the parasites with the clinical forms of the disease, but no conclusive data have been obtained. Our research aims at characterizing the genetic profiles of Trypanosoma cruzi isolates recently obtained from 70 chagasic patients who either showed pathological lesions with symptoms of various intensities or were asymptomatic. All patients came from an area where Chagas' disease is endemic in southeast Brazil where vectorial transmission has been controlled and different clinical forms of the disease can be found. The molecular characterization of parasites evaluated the polymorphisms of the 3' region of the 24S{alpha} rRNA gene and the variability of kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) minicircles of T. cruzi populations by low-stringency single specific primer PCR. Data presented here provide a strong correlation between T. cruzi II and human infection in this region. However, a high degree of variability was observed within T. cruzi II, as demonstrated by intense kDNA polymorphism among all clinical forms and also within each of them, irrespective of the intensity of pathological processes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro—Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Disciplina de Parasitologia, Rua Frei Paulino, 30 Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Phone: 55-343318 5258. Fax: 55-343318 5279. E-mail: parasito_fmtm{at}mednet.com.br.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 2006, p. 2167-2171, Vol. 44, No. 6
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02124-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • D'Avila, D. A., Macedo, A. M., Valadares, H. M. S., Gontijo, E. D., de Castro, A. M., Machado, C. R., Chiari, E., Galvao, L. M. C. (2009). Probing Population Dynamics of Trypanosoma cruzi during Progression of the Chronic Phase in Chagasic Patients. J. Clin. Microbiol. 47: 1718-1725 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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