Affiliation

1,2Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Av. Brasil, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, CEP, Brazil. 2Faculty of Medicine of Petrópolis, FMP-FASE, Av. Barão do Rio Branco, 1003 - Centro, Petrópolis - RJ, CEP 25680-120, Brazil. 3Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, R. Waldemar Falcão, 121 - Candeal, Salvador - BA, Brazil.

Corresponding Author

Jose Mengel, M.D.; Ph.D. Senior Researcher, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Fiocruz-RJ, Professor of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine of Petrópolis, FMP/FASE, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Email: Jomengel@fiocruz.br

Citation

Mengel, J., et al. The Interleukin- 17 (IL-17) Puzzle in Chagas’Disease (2017) J Cell Immunol Serum Biol 3(2): 120- 121.

Copy rights

© 2017 Mengel, J. This is an Open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

  In this article, we discuss an alternative explanation for the fact that the production and plasma levels of IL-17 are diminished in patients chronically infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, suffering from congestive heart failure. This alternate hypothesis considers the inhibitory pharmacological action of digoxin, a drug commonly used to treat heart failure. We believe this is a significant point to be further studied as IL-17 was initially considered to be heart-protective. Therefore, our argument has profound therapeutic implications.