title: Increased plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in asymptomatic/"indeterminate" and Chagas disease cardiomyopathy patients.
abstract: We compared plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) levels among asymptomatic/"indeterminate" Chagas disease patients (ASY) and patients across the clinical spectrum of chronic Chagas disease cardiomyopathy (CCC). Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients and normal controls (NC) were included as controls. ASY Chagas disease patients had significantly higher plasma TNF-alpha levels than NC. TNF-alpha levels among severe CCC patients with significant left ventricular (LV) dysfunction were similar to those of DCM patients, showing average 2-fold higher levels than CCC patients without LV dysfunction and ASY patients, and 8-fold higher levels than NC. In Chagas disease, chronic TNF-a production prior to heart failure may play a role in CCC progression.
authors.affiliation: Divisão de Cardiopatias Gerais, Instituto do Coração, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, 05403-000, Brasil.
authors.forename: Renata Cristina
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Barbara M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Ianni
authors.forename: Lucia C J
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Abel
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Buck
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mady
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kalil
authors.forename: Edecio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cunha-Neto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000097:blood; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000097:blood*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha