Malchiodi E L, Carbonetto C H, Grana D, Eiguchi de Palmero K, Chiaramonte M G, Falasca C A, Margni R A
Departamento de Microbiologia, Immunologia y Biotecnologia, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquimica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Trop Med Parasitol. 1993 Jun;44(2):86-90.
The american primate Cebus apella has been used as an experimental model for the study of acute and chronic Chagas' disease. The antibody response elicited by 4 x 10(6) blood trypnomastigotes injected into four monkeys was analysed. Peak titres of IgM and IgG of anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies were found at day 22, and between days 20 and 40 post-infection (p.i.), respectively. The ability of a Mr 37kDa (T37K) glycoprotein purified from T. cruzi epimastigotes to generate IgG anti-T. cruzi antibodies in monkeys, and protect them against a challenge with trypomastigotes, was also studied. Monkeys non-immunized with T37K reached peak values of parasitaemia between days 18 and 21 post-infection, whereas immunized monkeys had lower parasitaemias without important variation. Anti-T37K antibodies in immunized monkeys decreased from day 2 with the lowest titres between days 14 to 22 p.i., coincident with the peak of parasitaemia in control non-immunized monkeys. These results suggest that anti-T37K antibodies could be responsible for the low parasitaemia detected in immunized monkeys.
