Núria Gironès, Clara I. Rodríguez, Eugenio Carrasco-Marín, Reyes Flores Hernáez, Jacobo López de Rego, Manuel Fresno
J Clin Invest.
2001;
107(8):985–993
doi:10.1172/JCI10734
This article Copyright © 2001, The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Abstract
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n Chagas’ disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a paradigm of autoimmune disease, both autoantibodies and autoreactive T cells have been described. We have identified a novel dominant autoantigen, named Cha, recognized by the majority of sera from T. cruzi–infected humans and mice. We noted significant homologies between amino acids 120-129 of Cha, where the B-cell epitope maps, and an expressed sequence tag from T. cruzi, and also between amino acids 254-273 of Cha and a repeated amino acid sequence from the shed acute-phase antigen (SAPA) of T. cruzi. Moreover, T. cruzi–infected mice contain autoreactive T cells that can cross-react with Cha and the SAPA homologous peptides. Transfer of T cells from infected mice triggered anti-Cha (120-129) Ab production in naive recipients. Interestingly, heart tissue sections from those adoptive transferred mice showed cardiac pathology similar to T. cruzi–infected mice. Our results demonstrate the presence of both T- and B-cell cross-reactive epitopes in the Cha antigen. This dual mimicry may lead to T/B cell cooperation and give rise to a pathological immunodominant response against Cha in T. cruzi infected animals.
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