1. Usefulness of real-time PCR during follow-up of patients treated with Benznidazole for chronic Chagas disease : Experience in two referral centers in Barcelona
- Author
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Sulleiro, Elena, Silgado, Aroa, Serre-Delcor, Núria, Salvador, Fernando, Tavares de Oliveira, Maykon, Moure García, Zaira, Sao-Aviles, Augusto, Oliveira, Inés, Treviño Maruri , Begoña, Goterris, Lidia, Sánchez-Montalvá, Adrián, Pou, Diana, Molina, Israel, Pumarola Suñé, Tomàs, and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Quantitative Parasitology ,RC955-962 ,Artificial Gene Amplification and Extension ,Parasitemia ,Pathology and Laboratory Medicine ,Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Biochemistry ,0302 clinical medicine ,Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine ,Medicine and Health Sciences ,Protozoans ,Trypanosoma Cruzi ,Eukaryota ,Trypanocidal Agents ,Infectious Diseases ,Serology ,Benznidazole ,Nitroimidazoles ,Cohort ,Public aspects of medicine ,RA1-1270 ,medicine.drug ,Research Article ,Neglected Tropical Diseases ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Trypanosoma ,030231 tropical medicine ,Research and Analysis Methods ,Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ,03 medical and health sciences ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Parasitic Diseases ,Humans ,Chagas Disease ,Risk factor ,Nifurtimox ,Molecular Biology Techniques ,Molecular Biology ,Retrospective Studies ,Protozoan Infections ,Surrogate endpoint ,business.industry ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,Organisms ,Biology and Life Sciences ,Retrospective cohort study ,medicine.disease ,Tropical Diseases ,Parasitic Protozoans ,Discontinuation ,030104 developmental biology ,DOENÇAS PARASITÁRIAS ,Spain ,Chronic Disease ,Parasitology ,business ,Biomarkers - Abstract
Background Antitrypanosomal treatment with Benznidazole (BZ) or Nifurtimox may be recommended for patients with chronic Chagas disease (CD) to reduce the onset or progression of symptoms. However, such treatment has limited efficacy and high level of toxic effects. In addition, the current cure biomarker (serology conversion) precludes any treatment assessment unless a prolonged follow-up is arranged. PCR is thus the most useful, alternative surrogate marker for evaluating responses to treatment. The aim of this study is to describe the usefulness of real-time PCR in monitoring BZ treatment within a large cohort of chronic CD cases in Barcelona. Methodology/Principal findings A total of 370 chronic CD patients were monitored with real-time PCR post-BZ treatment. The median follow-up was 4 years (IQR 2.2–5.3y), with a median of 3 clinical visits (IQR 2–4). Only 8 patients (2.2%) presented with at least one incident of positive real-time PCR after treatment and were therefore considered as treatment failure. Four of those failure patients had completed full course treatment, whereas the remaining cases had defaulted with a statistical difference between both groups (p = 0.02). Half of the failure patients had undergone less than 4 years of follow-up monitoring all presented with parasitemia before treatment. Conclusions/Significance BZ treatment failure was highly infrequent in our cohort. BZ discontinuation was a risk factor for positive real-time PCR results during clinical follow-up. Regular testing with real-time PCR during follow-up allows for early detection of treatment failure in patients with chronic CD., Author summary Chagas disease has become a public health concern for health services in Spain, provided that the destination is the primary choice for Latin American migrants in Europe. Chronic phase is the most frequent clinical form of the disease outside of endemic areas. Most of these patients usually undergo treatment with Benznidazole, primarily childbearing women. Monitoring response to antiparasitic treatment without the presence of an early cure biomarker poses as one of the greatest challenges in managing this disease. In this study, almost 400 chronic Chagas disease patients treated with Benznidazole in two referral centers in Barcelona were included. Real-time PCR and serology were performed in all clinical visits after treatment; real-time PCR has been used as a surrogate biomarker to assess response to treatment. The failure rate of Benznidazole was very low in our cohort, with treatment discontinuation being a risk factor for such failure. In summary, our data supports that regular testing by real- time PCR for monitoring treatment response in chronic Chagas disease patients could be a useful surrogate marker for failure in such individuals.
- Published
- 2020