Chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCM) is a major cause for heart failure related mortality and morbidity of humans. Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiological agent, however, clinical disease does not correlate with parasite presence, and host factors are likely involved in activation and/or sustenance of CCM pathogenesis. In recent studies, we have shown that chagasic animals and patients sustain mitochondrial dysfunction of respiratory chain. At functional level, mitochondrial damage resulted in a decrease in energy output and an increase in oxidative stress both of which can play a pivotal role in cardiovascular homeostasis associated with CCM. Thus, in this proposal, we plan to investigate the critical importance of mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in human Chagas disease severity. Our central hypothesis is that infection by T. cruzi elicits mt damage in cardiomyocytes that results in a continuing cycle of respiratory chain inefficiency and ROS formation. These ROS cause cellular oxidative damage, and lead to the development of progressive cardiac pathology and impaired LV function in human chagasic patients. To test this hypothesis, we will conduct a cross-sectional study with following specific aims: 1) Identify the molecular, biochemical, and functional changes in mt that cause impaired metabolic activity and constitute a risk factor in human Chagas disease, 2) Determine how ROS-induced oxidative cellular damage enhance the patients'risk to develop clinical symptoms of Chagas disease, and 3) Identify the molecular pathways that are affected by mt and cellular oxidative stress and contribute to myocardial structural and functional alterations during progressive CCM. Samples from cardiomyopathy patients of other etiologies and healthy subjects will be analyzed for comparison purposes. Upon completion of the proposed studies, we anticipate demonstrating the importance of oxidative stress in instigation and/or sustenance of pathological processes (mt metabolic alterations, oxidative processes, cardiac remodeling) during CCM development. The comparative analysis with cardiomyopathy patients of other etiologies would provide insight into the mechanisms of cardiomyopathy development, and identify whether inhibiting oxidative responses would be useful in preventing cardiac damage. We anticipate identifying novel targets for the development of combinatorial therapies for preserving the cardiomyocyte composition and heart function that will be useful in controlling the onset/progression of chronic cardiomyopathy. We will conduct these studies in collaboration with multiple national and international collaborators, and as a result, our collaborators at the Argentina study site will gain training in cutting edge molecular and biochemical approaches, thus, enhancing their research capabilities in cardiovascular infectious diseases.

Public Health Relevance

The proposed studies will identify the oxidative stress response pathways and networks that enhance the susceptibility to or progression of chagasic (and other) cardiomyopathies. We anticipate identifying novel targets for prevention and treatment of Chagas disease.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HL094802-02
Application #
7752870
Study Section
Clinical and Integrative Cardiovascular Sciences Study Section (CICS)
Program Officer
Liang, Isabella Y
Project Start
2009-01-01
Project End
2012-11-30
Budget Start
2009-12-01
Budget End
2010-11-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$366,750
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas Medical Br Galveston
Department
Microbiology/Immun/Virology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
800771149
City
Galveston
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77555
Lopez, Marcos; Tanowitz, Herbert B; Garg, Nisha J (2018) Pathogenesis of Chronic Chagas Disease: Macrophages, Mitochondria, and Oxidative Stress. Curr Clin Microbiol Rep 5:45-54
Chowdhury, Imran H; Koo, Sue-Jie; Gupta, Shivali et al. (2017) Gene Expression Profiling and Functional Characterization of Macrophages in Response to Circulatory Microparticles Produced during Trypanosoma cruzi Infection and Chagas Disease. J Innate Immun 9:203-216
Garg, Nisha Jain; Soman, Kizhake V; Zago, Maria P et al. (2016) Changes in Proteome Profile of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Chronic Chagas Disease. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 10:e0004490
Huante, M B; Gupta, S; Calderon, V C et al. (2016) Differential inflammasome activation signatures following intracellular infection of human macrophages with Mycobacterium bovis BCG or Trypanosoma cruzi. Tuberculosis (Edinb) 101S:S35-S44
Koo, Sue-Jie; Spratt, Heidi M; Soman, Kizhake V et al. (2016) S-Nitrosylation Proteome Profile of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Human Heart Failure. Int J Proteomics 2016:1384523
Tanowitz, Herbert B; Machado, Fabiana S; Spray, David C et al. (2015) Developments in the management of Chagas cardiomyopathy. Expert Rev Cardiovasc Ther 13:1393-409
Dey, Nilay; Sinha, Mala; Gupta, Shivali et al. (2014) Caspase-1/ASC inflammasome-mediated activation of IL-1?-ROS-NF-?B pathway for control of Trypanosoma cruzi replication and survival is dispensable in NLRP3-/- macrophages. PLoS One 9:e111539
Gupta, Shivali; Silva, Trevor S; Osizugbo, Jessica E et al. (2014) Serum-mediated activation of macrophages reflects TcVac2 vaccine efficacy against Chagas disease. Infect Immun 82:1382-9
Dhiman, Monisha; Coronado, Yun A; Vallejo, Cecilia K et al. (2013) Innate immune responses and antioxidant/oxidant imbalance are major determinants of human Chagas disease. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 7:e2364
Gupta, Shivali; Wan, Xianxiu; Zago, Maria P et al. (2013) Antigenicity and diagnostic potential of vaccine candidates in human Chagas disease. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 7:e2018

Showing the most recent 10 out of 19 publications