Characterization of the presence of Foxp3+ T cells from patients with different clinical forms of Chagas disease

Chagas' disease is a parasitic infection caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi that affects approximately 12 to 14 million people in Central and South America. This infection has a variable clinical course, with most individuals with the indeterminate form remaining free of alterations. Approximately 30% of the patients in the chronic phase of the disease develop the cardiac clinical form [1] . This form has a wide range of symptoms that range from mild alterations to severe heart damage. The myocardium of patients exhibiting chronic cardiomyopathy usually shows lymphocytic myocarditis with numerous degrees of myocardial necrosis, reparative fibrosis, and myocardial hypertrophy.