Do lymphocytes from Chagasic patients respond to heart antigens?

Abstract

Lymphocyte transformation studies of nonadherent lymphocytes from chronic Chagasic and uninfected persons demonstrated that responses of all individuals to a mouse heart homogenate showed a correlation with responses to streptococcal antigens. Considering the known cross-reactions between streptococcal and cardiac antigens and the high reactivity of Chagasic patients to streptococcal antigens, it is possible that positive lymphocyte transformation to unfractionated heart antigen preparations may not represent specific reactivity to heart antigens.