Tumor Necrosis Factor Is a Therapeutic Target for Immunological Unbalance and Cardiac Abnormalities in Chronic Experimental Chagas’ Heart Disease
Figure 2
Therapy with Infliximab does not reactivate Trypanosoma cruzi but reduces TNF mRNA expression in the heart tissue and inflammatory cytokine profile in the serum of chronically infected mice. C57BL/6 mice infected with 100 bt of the Colombian T. cruzi strain were treated from 120 to 150 dpi and analyzed at 150 dpi. (a) Detection of parasite DNA (equivalents/mg) in the cardiac tissue. (b) Expression of TNF mRNA (fold increase) in the heart tissue. (c) Measure of cytokine concentrations in the serum. (d) Relative ratios of IL-10/TNF and IL-10/IFNγ levels in the serum in saline-injected and anti-TNF treated infected mice. , , and , T. cruzi-infected mice (saline injected or anti-TNF treated) compared to NI controls. #, anti-TNF-treated compared to saline-injected T. cruzi-infected mice. Bar represents the mean ± SD of the studied group (3 to 5 mice). These data represent three independent experiments.
