VERA LUCIA TEIXEIRA DE FREITAS
Projetos de Pesquisa
Unidades Organizacionais
Departamento de Moléstias Infecciosas e Parasitárias, Faculdade de Medicina
LIM/48 - Laboratório de Imunologia, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina
LIM/48 - Laboratório de Imunologia, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina
5 resultados
Resultados de Busca
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- Quantitative PCR as a marker for preemptive therapy and its role in therapeutic control in Trypanosoma cruzi/HIV coinfection(2024) FREITAS, Vera Lucia Teixeira de; NOVAES, Christina Terra Gallafrio; SARTORI, Ana Marli Christovam; CARVALHO, Noemia Barbosa; SILVA, Sheila Cristina Vicente da; NAKANISHI, erika Shimoda; SALVADOR, Fernando; CASTRO, Cleudson Nery de; BEZERRA, Rita Cristina; WESTPHALEN, Elizabeth Visone Nunes; OLIVEIRA, Caroline Medeji Ramos de; BUSSER, Felipe Delatorre; HO, Yeh-Li; BUCCHERI, Renata; BONILLA, Carolina; SHIKANAI-YASUDA, Maria AparecidaBackground Trypanosoma cruzi and HIV coinfection can evolve with depression of cellular immunity and increased parasitemia. We applied quantitative PCR (qPCR) as a marker for preemptive antiparasitic treatment to avoid fatal Chagas disease reactivation and analyzed the outcome of treated cases. Methodology This mixed cross-sectional and longitudinal study included 171 Chagas disease patients, 60 coinfected with HIV. Of these 60 patients, ten showed Chagas disease reactivation, confirmed by parasites identified in the blood, cerebrospinal fluid, or tissues, 12 exhibited high parasitemia without reactivation, and 38 had low parasitemia and no reactivation. Results We showed, for the first time, the success of the timely introduction of benznidazole in the non-reactivated group with high levels of parasitemia detected by qPCR and the absence of parasites in reactivated cases with at least 58 days of benznidazole. All HIV+ patients with or without reactivation had a 4.0-5.1 higher chance of having parasitemia than HIV seronegative cases. A positive correlation was found between parasites and viral loads. Remarkably, treated T. cruzi/HIV-coinfected patients had 77.3% conversion from positive to negative parasitemia compared to 19.1% of untreated patients. Additionally, untreated patients showed similar to 13.6 times higher Odds Ratio of having positive parasitemia in the follow-up period compared with treated patients. Treated and untreated patients showed no differences regarding the evolution of Chagas disease. The main factors associated with all-cause mortality were higher parasitemia, lower CD4 counts/mu L, higher viral load, and absence of antiretroviral therapy. Conclusion We recommend qPCR prospective monitoring of T. cruzi parasitemia in HIV+ coinfected patients and point out the value of pre-emptive therapy for those with high parasitemia. In parallel, early antiretroviral therapy introduction is advisable, aiming at viral load control, immune response restoration, and increasing survival. We also suggest an early antiparasitic treatment for all coinfected patients, followed by effectiveness analysis alongside antiretroviral therapy.
- Multiple myeloma and Chagas disease: qPCR as a marker forpreemptive antiparasitic therapy: a case reports series and review(2024) CARVALHO, Noemia Barbosa; FREITAS, Vera Lucia Teixeira de; SEGURO, Fernanda Salles; BEZERRA, Rita Cristina; FATOBENE, Giancarlo; NAKANISHI, erika Yoshie Shimoda; VISNADI, Helena; MARTINEZ, Gracia; BATISTA, Marjorie Vieira; ROCHA, Vanderson; DULLEY, Frederico Luis; COSTA, Silvia Figueiredo; SHIKANAI-YASUDA, Maria AparecidaMultiple myeloma (MM) associated with Chagas disease is rarely described. This disease and its therapy suppress T cell and macrophage functions and increase regulatory T cell function, allowing the increase of parasitemia and the risk of Chagas Disease Reactivation (CDR). We aimed to analyze the role of conventional (cPCR) and quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) for prospective monitoring of T. cruzi parasitemia, searching for markers of preemptive antiparasitic therapy in MM patients with Chagas disease. Moreover, we investigated the incidence and management of hematological diseases and CDR both inside and outside the transplant setting in the MEDLINE database. We found 293 studies and included 31 of them. Around 1.9-2.0% of patients with Chagas disease were reported in patients undergoing Stem Cell Transplantation. One case of CDR was described in eight cases of MM and Chagas disease. We monitored nine MM and Chagas disease patients, seven under Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation (ASCT), during 44.56 +/- 32.10 months (mean +/- SD) using parasitological methods, cPCR, and qPCR. From these patients, three had parasitemia. In the first, up to 256 par Eq/mL were detected, starting from 28 months after ASCT. The second patient dropped out and died soon after the detection of 161.0 par Eq/mL. The third patient had a positive blood culture. Benznidazole induced fast negativity in two cases; followed by notably lower levels in one of them. Increased T. cruzi parasitemia was related to the severity of the underlying disease. We recommend parasitemia monitoring by qPCR for early introduction of preemptive antiparasitic therapy to avoid CDR. KEYWORDS Multiple myeloma; Chagas disease; T. cruzi parasitemia; Conventional PCR; Quantitative PCR
- Aplastic Anemia and Chagas Disease: T. cruzi Parasitemia Monitoring by Quantitative PCR and Preemptive Antiparasitic Therapy(2022) CARVALHO, Noemia Barbosa; FREITAS, Vera Teixeira de; BEZERRA, Rita Cristina; NAKANISHI, Erika Shimoda; VELLOSO, Elvira Pereira; HIGASHINO, Hermes Ryoiti; BATISTA, Marjorie Vieira; FONSECA, Guilherme Henrique; ROCHA, Vanderson; COSTA, Silvia Figueiredo; SHIKANAI-YASUDA, Maria AparecidaBackground: Aplastic anemia is a rare and life-threatening condition, seldomly witnessed concomitantly with Chagas disease. We aim to discuss the management of these patients under risk of chronic Chagas disease reactivation (CDR), a severe condition with a high morbimortality that occurs in chronic Chagas disease patients under immunosuppression. Case reports: Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) parasitemia was monitored in three patients for 4-58 months by conventional PCR (cPCR), quantitative PCR (qPCR), microhematocrit/buffy coat, blood culture, and/or xenodiagnosis. One patient received antiparasitic treatment (benznidazole) and the other received allopurinol. Although parasitemia was controlled during and after benznidazole treatment at 300 mg/d for 51 days, in one patient, hematologic parameters worsened continuously before, during, and after treatment. Allopurinol led only to the temporary suppression of T. cruzi parasitemia in the second patient, but after danazol and hematological improvement, parasitemia became undetectable until the end of monitoring. Discussion and Conclusion: Unexpected undetectable or low parasitemia by cPCR/qPCR was reported. We show that the monitoring of parasitemia by qPCR and the use of preemptive therapy when the parasitemia was positive proved to be beneficial to our patients. As a result of the toxicity of more effective antiparasitics, shorter regimens of benznidazole or less toxic drugs in preemptive therapy are options that deserve future studies.
- Real-Time PCR in HIV/Trypanosoma cruzi Coinfection with and without Chagas Disease Reactivation: Association with HIV Viral Load and CD4(+) Level(2011) FREITAS, Vera Lucia Teixeira de; SILVA, Sheila Cristina Vicente da; SARTORI, Ana Marli; BEZERRA, Rita Cristina; WESTPHALEN, Elizabeth Visone Nunes; MOLINA, Tatiane Decaris; TEIXEIRA, Antonio R. L.; IBRAHIM, Karim Yaqub; SHIKANAI-YASUDA, Maria AparecidaBackground: Reactivation of chronic Chagas disease, which occurs in approximately 20% of patients coinfected with HIV/Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), is commonly characterized by severe meningoencephalitis and myocarditis. The use of quantitative molecular tests to monitor Chagas disease reactivation was analyzed. Methodology: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of kDNA sequences, competitive (C-) PCR and real-time quantitative (q) PCR were compared with blood cultures and xenodiagnosis in samples from 91 patients (57 patients with chronic Chagas disease and 34 with HIV/T. cruzi coinfection), of whom 5 had reactivation of Chagas disease and 29 did not. Principal Findings: qRT-PCR showed significant differences between groups; the highest parasitemia was observed in patients infected with HIV/T. cruzi with Chagas disease reactivation (median 1428.90 T. cruzi/mL), followed by patients with HIV/T. cruzi infection without reactivation (median 1.57 T. cruzi/mL) and patients with Chagas disease without HIV (median 0.00 T. cruzi/mL). Spearman's correlation coefficient showed that xenodiagnosis was correlated with blood culture, C-PCR and qRT-PCR. A stronger Spearman correlation index was found between C-PCR and qRT-PCR, the number of parasites and the HIV viral load, expressed as the number of CD4(+) cells or the CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio. Conclusions: qRT-PCR distinguished the groups of HIV/T. cruzi coinfected patients with and without reactivation. Therefore, this new method of qRT-PCR is proposed as a tool for prospective studies to analyze the importance of parasitemia (persistent and/or increased) as a criterion for recommending pre-emptive therapy in patients with chronic Chagas disease with HIV infection or immunosuppression. As seen in this study, an increase in HIV viral load and decreases in the number of CD4(+) cells/mm(3) and the CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio were identified as cofactors for increased parasitemia that can be used to target the introduction of early, pre-emptive therapy.
- Assessment of biomarkers and clinical parameters as predictors of survival in patients with chagasic heart failure(2023) BOCCHI, Edimar Alcides; GUIMARAES, Guilherme Veiga; ROMERO, Cristhian Espinoza; SATO, Paula Keiko; FREITAS, Vera Lucia Teixeira de; KANASHIRO, Edite Hatsumi Yamashiro; FURUCHO, Celia Regina; CRUZ, Fatima Das Dores; NAKANISHI, Erika Shimoda; BUSSER, Felipe Delatorre; BEZERRA, Rita Cristina; WESTPHALEN, Elizabeth Visone Nunes; ROCHA, Mussya Cisotto; YASUDA, Maria Aparecida ShikanaiBackground Chagas disease, endemic in Latin America and spreading globally due to emigration, has a significant health burden, particularly in relation to chagasic heart failure (HF). Chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCM) is characterized by chronic inflammatory myocardial disease. This study aimed to identify inflammatory parameters and biomarkers that could aid in the management of patients with chagasic HF. Methods and findings A cohort study was conducted at a tertiary cardiology single-center over a mean follow-up period of 2.4 years. The study included patients with HF secondary to CCM enrolled between October 2013 and July 2017. Various clinical parameters, echocardiography findings, parasitemia status, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and troponin T (TnT) levels, and inflammatory biomarkers (IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-17A, adiponectin, and IFN-gamma) were assessed. The study encompassed a cohort of 103 patients, with a median age of 53 years and 70% being male. The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 28%, with 40% of patients classified as NYHA II functional class. The median BNP level was 291 pg/ml. The observed mortality rate during the study period was 38.8%. Predictors of lower survival were identified as elevated levels of BNP, TnT, reduced LVEF, and increased adiponectin (thresholds: BNP > 309 pg/ml, TnT > 27.5 ng/ml, LVEF < 25.5%, adiponectin > 38 mu g/mL). Notably, there was no evidence indicating a relationship between parasitemia and the inflammatory parameters with lower survival in these patients, including INF-gamma, IL-6, IL-10, IL12-(p70), and IL17a. Conclusion Despite the presence of a chronic inflammatory process, the evaluated inflammatory biomarkers in this cohort were not predictive of survival in patients with chagasic HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). However, reduced LVEF, elevated BNP, adiponectin levels, and troponin T were identified as predictors of lower survival in these patients.