Researchers
Daniel Hoft, Chris Eickhoff and Annie DeGroot.
Summary
Chagas disease is a major neglected tropical disease caused by persistent chronic infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. There are only two approved drugs for treating the estimated 11 million infected patients, and no available vaccines. Immunoinformatic tools were used to identify T-cell targets for human infection by T. cruzi, particularly in the enzymatically active functional (F-TS) and non-functional (NF-TS) trans-sialidase (TS) gene family. Saint Louis University researchers identified 30 new immunogenic HLA-A2 restricted CD+ T-cell epitopes using IFN-Ȣ ELISPOT assays after vaccination of humanized HLA-A2 transgenic mice with mature dendritic cells pulsed F-TS, NF-TS, and Non-TS peptide pools. The immunogenic HLA-A2 restricted T-cell epitopes thus identified may serve as potential components of an epitope-based T-cell targeted vaccine for Chagas disease.
Intellectual Property Status
- U.S. patent pending