About
Towards the development of diagnostic tests for Chagas disease and post-treatment monitoring by the use of specific markers of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and prognostic biomarkers of chronic phase of infection.
Current methods available for the diagnosis of Chagas disease are not satisfactory for acute and chronic patients in blood banks and health centers, or for congenital infections. Similarly, the methods used for prognosis and monitoring of disease are unreliable. The sensitivity and accuracy of available tests are suboptimal. To fill these gaps, we propose to improve them and also to test one or more biomarkers identified during infection in order to develop a diagnostic POC selective, simple, reliable and of quality. Also in monitoring the chronic (latent) disease phase no diagnostic test is available, whether for diagnosis or prognosis of evolution towards severe forms. Our project includes a systematic study, initially in the experimental model and at each stage of the project, methods and results will be translated to well-defined cohorts of patients for all phases of Chagas disease: children or adults infected / acute or chronic phases, treated or not with specific treatments.
