Murine heart gene expression during acute Chagasic myocarditis

Chagas disease is transmitted by the parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi. Acute infection is characterized by acute myocarditis, although it is largely asymptomatic. Initial cardiac insult could be a determinant to the posterior development of chronic Chagasic cardiomyopathy, usually after 10 years in only approximately 30% of chronically infected patients. Herein, we characterized the acute gene expression profiling in heart tissue of two strains of mice infected with T. cruzi (tulahuen strain) at 4 weeks and their respective controls. Gene sequence data are available at NCBI under GEO accession number: GSE63847. The output of the genes expression suggests differences in involvement of protein kinase B (AKT), NCAM1, HLA-DRA, and ubiquitin C genes networks. These gene activation differences may correlate with myocardial contractility during the acute infection.