Chagas disease is a parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan
Trypanosoma cruzi, which affects 16 to 18 million South Americans and is characterized by chronic and cardiac disorders due to significant fibrosis.
Both laboratories have shown the important role of TGFß in parasite
T. cruzi infection as well as in the development of Chagas disease. In the present study, the researchers show that a specific inhibitor of the serine/threonine kinase activity of the receptor of the TGFß inhibits cardiomyocytes infection with
T. cruzi and blocks the intracellular parasite cycle.
This work provides a new therapeutic approach to Chagas disease by the use of small pathway inhibitors of TGFß signaling.