by Gabaldón-Figueira JC, Ros-Lucas A, Martínez-Peinado N, Blackburn G, Losada-Galvan I, Posada E, Ballart C, Escabia E, Capellades J, Yanes O, Pinazo M-J, Gascón J, Alonso-Padilla J. Parasites Vectors 2024, 17:459. doi: 10.1186/s13071-024-06548-3
Summary: Current diagnostics for Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, are limited, hindering evaluation of patient prognosis and treatment efficacy. T. cruzi disrupts several host metabolic pathways, providing an opportunity for the identification of biomarkers. The authors of this manuscript analysed the metabolomic and lipidomic profiles of participants with symptomatic and asymptomatic T. cruzi infection, and a control group without infection, using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Three lipids (two phosphatidylethanolamines and 10-hydroxydecanoic acid) could differentiate between symptomatic and asymptomatic participants, while various sphingolipids were found in similar abundance in participants after treatment and in the control group. These molecules have potential for use as biomarkers to monitor disease progression and treatment response in patients with chronic T. cruzi infection.
