title: Chagas' disease: reactivity against homologous tissues induced by different strains of Trypanosoma cruzi.
abstract: We have previously reported that the mechanisms of neuromyopathic damage induced by Trypanosoma cruzi are mediated by T cells and are parasite-strain dependent. In the present study our aim was to determine whether the humoral response against muscle and nervous system is also parasite-strain dependent. Of the sera from mice infected with RA and CA-I. T. cruzi strains, 93% reacted against antigens of the nervous system (sciatic nerve, spinal cord and brain). No differences in the ability to recognize heart antigens were found between RA (48%) and CA-I (63%) antisera. Reactivity against skeletal muscle was only relevant in anti-CA-I sera at 270 days post-infection. Each of the antisera assayed in Western blots developed a particular antigenic pattern, but 3 antigens in the nervous system of molecular weight 48, 60 and 70 kDa were detected by 42, 28 and 23% of the sera, respectively. On the other hand, deposits of IgG were observed at the interstitial matrix in sciatic nerve and as endomisial and sarcolemmal patterns in skeletal muscle by IFAT for both RA and CA-I antisera. Absorption of sera with parasite antigens did not abolish the autoreactivity. Our results suggest that major serum autoreactivity from T. cruzi-infected mice is not parasite-strain dependent and does not arise from molecular mimicry.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Parasitología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Paraguay, Argentina.
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Tekiel
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Mirkin
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gonzalez Cappa
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D000818:Animals; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins