Brief communication Y. Beraljn zyxwvutsrq A. Nieto M.D. Collado A. Gonzalez zyxwvutsrqp J. Martin Key words: Chagas’ disease; TNF; Trypanosoma cruzi Acknowledgments: We are indebted to the paramedical personnel and staff of the Dpto. de Patologia Clinica, Servicio de Inmunologia. at Hospital Nacional Guillermo Almenara. Lima, Peru. We thank Lourdes Velazquez for technical assistance. Yasmina Beralin has a fellowship from Agencia Espatiola de CooperaciBn lnternacional. This research has been supported in part by grant zyxwvutsr PM95-0100 from the DGES. Spain. Received 30 January, revised. accepted for publication 31 March 1998 Copyright iD Munksgaard 1998 inssue Antigens ISSN 0001-2815 zyxwvutsrqponml nssue Antigens 1998 52 81-83 Printed In Denmark All rights reserved Polymorphisms at tumor necrosis factor (TNF) loci are not associated with Chagas’ disease Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the polymorph- isms at the TNF loci are associated with Chagas’ disease. We determined the TNFA (positions -308, -244 and -238) and TNFB genotypes in a sample of 85 serologically positive chagasic individuals and in 87 healthy controls from a Peruvian population where zyxwvutsr Trypanosoma zyxwvu mcn infection is endemic. Patients were subdivided according to the presence (n=33) or absence zyxw (n=52) of chagasic chronic cardiomyopathy, in order to search for genetic differences associated with this pathological condition. No significant differences either between patients and controls or between asymptomatic and cardiomyopath- ic individuals were observed with respect to TNFA or TNFB polymorphisms when these were considered individually or as extended haplotypes. Clinical symptoms of Chagas’ disease occur in less than half of the individuals infected with Trypanosoma cruzi and are characterized by heart inflammation and dysfunction. The reason why some indi- viduals go on to develop cardiac disease is not clearly understood. A critical factor may be the amount and persistence of TNFa that is produced by the host in response to T. cmzi infection (1). With regard to this, experimental studies have suggested that high TNFa production in the target organ of the disease is responsible, at least in part, for the severe pathology associated with the later stages of infection (2, 3). These observations raise the possibility that the cardiac form of Chagas’ disease is related to the genetic propensity of an individual to produce TNFa. This study was undertaken in order to establish whether TNF polymorphisms are associated with the susceptibility to the clinical forms of Chagas’ disease. This study included 85 serologxally positive unrelated chagasic individuals and 87 healthy endemic control subjects from Arequipa, Peru. The individuals serologically positive for Chagas’ disease were subdivided into two groups according to the presence (n=33) or ab- sence (n=52) of cardiomyopathy. The TNFA promoter and TNFB genotypes were achieved using a PCR-RFLP protocol described pre- viously (4). Authors’ afliiiatlon: Y Beradn. A. Nieto, M.O. Collado. A. GonzAlez. J. Marlin Instituto de Parasitologia y Btornedicina ‘LopeZ-Neyra‘. CSIC. Granada. Spain Correspondence to: Javier Martin Institute de Parasitologia y Biomedicina ‘Lopez- Neyra’ C/ Ventanilla 11 E-18001 Granada Spain Tel: ~58805056 Fax: 34-58-203323 E-mail: martin@ipb.csic.es 81