Chagas disease, caused by infection with the protozoal parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and transmitted by kissing bugs, affects 6-8 million people worldwide and results in approximately 50,000 deaths annually. Chronic Chagasic cardiomyopathy is a major consequence of this parasitic infection, causing heart disease among people living in poverty in Latin America and elsewhere. Our Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and our labs have active projects in vaccine, diagnostic, and therapeutic development, paired with projects to understand the global epidemiology of Chagas disease.
In the area of vaccine development, a clinical-trial-grade vaccine antigen, which has been produced in Mexico, is slated to soon be evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical study. In parallel, the CVD is diversifying the Chagas vaccine development efforts by combining recombinant protein and mRNA vaccine technologies, with pre-clinical studies ongoing to develop and assess potentially more effective vaccine-linked therapy approaches. Finally, to better monitor disease prevalence and to support the design of future clinical trials, our teams are improving diagnostic methods, while in synergy, we continue to monitor disease prevalence nationally and internationally.
Vaccines
- Vaccine-linked chemotherapy for human and veterinary use
- Jones et al. — The impact of vaccine-linked chemotherapy on liver health in a mouse model of chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infection — PLOS Negl Trop Dis
- mRNA vaccines for malaria and other parasitic pathogens
- Versteeg, Pollet — mRNA vaccines for malaria and other parasitic pathogens — Trends in mRNA Vaccine Research
- Poveda et al. — Harnessing RNA Technology to Advance Therapeutic Vaccine Antigens against Chagas Disease — ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
- Vaccine antigen discovery
- Pollet et al. — Tcj2 as a new Chagas disease mRNA vaccine candidate — Plos Pathog
Diagnostics
- Diagnostic antigen discovery
- Versteeg et al. — Accelerating The Discovery and Evaluation of Vaccine Targets for Chagas Disease — ppt
- Assay development
Therapeutics
- Hookworm proteins as host-directed therapy
- Jones et al. — Hookworm proteins as host-directed therapies for Chagas — ppt
- Probiotics to reduce the pathology of CD
- Poveda et al. — Microbiome Alterations Driven by Trypanosoma cruzi — Microbiol Spectr
- Poveda et al. — RNA Technology to Advance Therapeutic Vaccine Antigens — ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces
Epidemiology
- Epidemiologic, immunologic, and clinical consequences of CD
- Clark et al. — Clinical features of Chagas disease progression and severity — Lancet Reg Health Am
- Chagas disease in the immunocompromised
- Clark et al. — Chagas disease in the immunocompromised host — Curr Op Inf Dis
- Clark et al. — Adaptation of Chagas Disease Screening Recommendations for a Community of At-risk HIV in the United States — Clin Infect Dis
- Vectors and transmissions
- Gunter et al. — Diagnosis of Acute Chagas Disease in a Belizean Child — Am J Trop Med Hyg
- Jibowu et al. — Leishmania in Texas: A Contemporary One Health Scoping Review of Vectors, Reservoirs, and Human Health — Biology (Basel)
- Mejia et al. — Chagas and Vector-Borne Disease Exposures in an Indigenous Community in the Ecuadorian Amazon: A Retrospective Study — Am J Trop Med Hyg
Pre-Clinical Studies
- Vaccine-linked chemotherapy for human and veterinary use
- Jones et al. — The impact of vaccine-linked chemotherapy on liver health in a mouse model of chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infection — PLOS Negl Trop Dis
- mRNA vaccines for malaria and other parasitic pathogens
- Versteeg, Pollet — mRNA vaccines for malaria and other parasitic pathogens — Trends in mRNA Vaccine Research
- Poveda et al. — Harnessing RNA Technology to Advance Therapeutic Vaccine Antigens against Chagas Disease — ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
- Vaccine antigen discovery
- Pollet et al. — Tcj2 as a new Chagas disease mRNA vaccine candidate — Plos Pathog
- Immune response