Skip to main content

BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Neuroendocrine Science
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1486772
This article is part of the Research Topic Nuclear Receptors in Health and Disease View all 4 articles

Role of Glucocorticoid Receptor Expression in Chronic Chagas Cardiomyopathy: Implications for Inflammation and Cardiac

Provisionally accepted
Florencia Belén Gonzalez Florencia Belén Gonzalez 1Antonella Pacini Antonella Pacini 1Araceli Casttro Araceli Casttro 2Susana Lioi Susana Lioi 3Silvina Raquel Villar Silvina Raquel Villar 1Luciano David D'Attilio Luciano David D'Attilio 1Rodolfo Leiva Rodolfo Leiva 4Liliana Favaloro Liliana Favaloro 5Oscar Bottasso Oscar Bottasso 1Carlos Vigliani Carlos Vigliani 6Ana Rosa Pérez Ana Rosa Pérez 1,7*
  • 1 Instituto de Inmunología Clínica y Experimental de Rosario IDICER CONICET UNR, Rosario, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 2 Instituto de Medicina Traslacional, Trasplante y Bioingeniería (IMeTTyB), Universidad Favaloro-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 3 Laboratorio Central del Hospital Provincial del Centenario, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina, Rosario, Argentina
  • 4 Servicio de Cardiología, Sección Chagas del Hospital Provincial del Centenario, Rosario, Argentina., Rosario, Argentina
  • 5 Servicio de Insuficiencia Cardíaca y Trasplante Cardíaco, Hospital Universitario Fundación Favaloro, Buenos Aires, Argentina., Rosario, Argentina
  • 6 Servicio de Anatomía Patológica, Hospital Universitario de la Fundación Favaloro, Buenos Aires, Argentina., Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 7 National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Chronic Chagasic Cardiomyopathy (CCC) has an infectious and inflammatory nature.Recent data also suggest an association with altered regulation of glucocorticoid-mediated circuits failing to control systemic inflammation. However, the involvement of glucocorticoid receptors (GR) and their isoforms have been unexplored.The expression of GR-α/β isoforms, 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type-1 (11b-HSD1), inflammatory cytokines, and the GC-regulated gene tristetraprolin (TTP) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as well as GR immunoreactivity in the myocardium from CCC individuals were evaluated by qPCR and immunohistochemistry respectively. Heart control samples with no evidence of structural heart disease and from ischemic cardiomyopathy patients were included. The presence of inflammatory infiltrates and fibrosis were also recorded.Results: GR-α was expressed similarly in the PBMCs from Co and CCC individuals, but 11β-HSD1 expression was increased only in CCC, conjointly with enhanced ratios of IL-6/TTP and IFN-γ/TTP.In the inflamed myocardium from CCC patients, positive GR expression correlated with the intensity of the inflammatory infiltrate and cardiac hypertrophy.The infectious and inflammatory nature of CCC pathology seems strongly connected with the expression of GR in cardiac tissue samples, providing a stimulating background for further studies addressed to elucidate the influence of GR expression and function on CCC pathophysiology and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.

    Keywords: Glucocorticoid receptor, 11β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1, cardiomyocyte, Hypertrophy, Chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy, ischemic cardiomyopathy

    Received: 26 Aug 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Gonzalez, Pacini, Casttro, Lioi, Villar, D'Attilio, Leiva, Favaloro, Bottasso, Vigliani and Pérez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ana Rosa Pérez, National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.