ArticleThe Journal of experimental medicine2002
A Trypanosoma cruzi small surface molecule provides the first immunological evidence that Chagas' disease is due to a single parasite lineage.
Article in The Journal of experimental medicine, 2002. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers.
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Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 147 citations in OpenAlex.
- Distinct nanoscale membrane organizations of mucins andbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Molecular and Genetic Analysis of the Increased Number of Genes forPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Parasite-microbiota interactions: a pathway to innovative interventions for Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, and ascariasis.Future microbiology · 2025Review
- Review
- Diversity of Chagas disease diagnostic antigens: Successes and limitations.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Review
- A Multi-Epitope Protein for High-Performance Serodiagnosis of Chronic Chagas Disease in ELISA and Lateral Flow Platforms.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- New insights intoFrontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- Deep serological profiling of the Trypanosoma cruzi TSSA antigen reveals different epitopes and modes of recognition by Chagas disease patients.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- The Trypanosoma cruzi Antigen and Epitope Atlas: antibody specificities in Chagas disease patients across the Americas.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Modulation of Virulence Factors duringPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Parasitemia and Differential Tissue Tropism in Mice Infected withPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- An Updated View of theACS infectious diseases · 2022Review
- Serological Approaches for Trypanosoma cruzi Strain Typing.Trends in parasitology · 2021Review
- Review
- Glycosylation of Trypanosoma cruzi TcI antigen reveals recognition by chagasic sera.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- The Glycan Structure ofMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- Novel structural CYP51 mutation in Trypanosoma cruzi associated with multidrug resistance to CYP51 inhibitors and reduced infectivity.International journal for parasitology. Drugs and drug resistance · 2020Article
- Article
- Overview of the role of kinetoplastid surface carbohydrates in infection and host cell invasion: prospects for therapeutic intervention.Parasitology · 2019Review
- Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chagas' disease is a major health and economic problem caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Multiple independently evolving clones define a complex parasite population that can be arranged into two broad genetic lineages termed T. cruzi I and II. These lineages have different evolutionary origin and display distinct ecological and biological traits. Here we describe a novel molecule termed TSSA for trypomastigote small surface antigen that provides the first immunological marker allowing discrimination between lineages. TSSA is a surface, glycosylphosphatidyl inositol (GPI)-anchored mucin-like protein, highly antigenic during the infection. TSSA sequences from different parasite isolates reveal a population dimorphism that perfectly matches with the two T. cruzi lineages. Interestingly, this dimorphism is restricted to the central region of the molecule, which comprises the immunodominant B cell epitopes. This sequence variability has a major impact on TSSA antigenicity, leading to no immunological cross-reactivity between both isoforms for antibodies present either in immunization or infection sera. Furthermore, the absolute seroprevalence for TSSA in confirmed Chagasic patients is restricted to T. cruzi II isoform, strongly suggesting that human infections are due to this particular subgroup. Even though association of T. cruzi II with Chagas' disease has been proposed based on molecular markers, this is the first immunological evidence supporting this hypothesis. The implications of these results for the future research on Chagas' disease could be envisaged.
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