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Infection and Immunity, December 2005, p. 7960-7966, Vol. 73, No. 12
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.73.12.7960-7966.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Type 1 Chemokine Receptor Expression in Chagas' Disease Correlates with Morbidity in Cardiac Patients

Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, Fiocruz, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil,¹ Laboratório de Biologia do Reconhecer, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,² Faculdade de Medicina, Programa de Pós-graduação em Medicina Tropical, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil,³ Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil,⁴ Departamento de Imunologia, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil⁵

Received 13 September 2004/ Returned for modification 18 October 2005/ Accepted 26 August 2005

Chemokines and chemokine receptors (CKRs) control the migration of leukocytes during the inflammatory process and are important immunological markers of type 1 (CCR5 and CXCR3) and type 2 (CCR3 and CCR4) responses. The coexpression of CKRs (CCR2, CCR3, CCR5, CXCR3, and CXCR4) and intracellular cytokines (interleukin-10 [IL-10], IL-4, tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-], and gamma interferon [IFN-]) on T CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ peripheral cells from individuals with indeterminate (IND) or cardiac (CARD) clinical forms of Chagas' disease after in vitro stimulation with Trypanosoma cruzi antigens, were evaluated in this study. The percentage of T CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ cells coexpressing CCR5 and IFN-, CXCR3 and IFN-, and CXCR3 and TNF- were higher in CARD than in IND individuals; on the other hand, the percentage of T CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ cells coexpressing CCR3 and IL-10 or coexpressing CCR3 and IL-4 were lower in CARD individuals than in IND individuals. In addition, a significant positive correlation between the expression of CCR5 or CXCR3 and IFN- was observed in CARD individuals contrasting with a significant positive correlation between the expression of CCR3 and IL-4 and of CCR3 and IL-10 in IND patients. These results reinforce the hypothesis that a T. cruzi-exacerbated specific type 1 immune response developed by CARD chagasic patients is associated with the development of heart pathology.

Editor: J. F. Urban, Jr.