Giovanna Frechiani Adalberto Vieyra Claudia Dick ^*

• Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Chagas disease (CD), also known as American trypanosomiasis, is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. It is prevalent in areas belonging to South and Central America, but in the global scenario, the disease ranks third among parasitic diseases (World Health Organization, 2023).Currently, it is estimated that around 10 million people are infected worldwide, especially in Latin America, where the disease is endemic and is the leading cause of non-ischemic heart disease (Pan American Health Organization, 2023). T. cruzi is mainly transmitted by kissing bugs hematophagous insects belonging to the subfamily Triatominae. Thus, CD stands out as a public health problem in Latin America and other continents, mainly in North America and Europe. This spread is due to the immigration of infected individuals and the expansion of the insect vector in border areas, in addition to the failure to control clinical procedures such as blood transfusions and organ transplants (Nunes et al., 2018). Another form of transmission is the congenital form. Congenital infection with T. cruzi has become the primary mode of CD transmission in non-endemic countries where pregnant women are not regularly screened for the infection (Antinori et al., 2017). At the maternal-fetal interface, a complex interaction takes place between the parasite and host cells when bloodstream trypomastigotes engage with the syncytiotrophoblasts (SYNs) ( Despite the availability of some drugs in the clinic, these therapies have significant limitations. 58The toxicity associated with available medications, especially nifurtimox and benznidazole, often 59 limits treatment adherence, given the adverse effects of continued use (Ferri et al., 2023;Gonzaga et 60 al., 2023). Although such treatment shows results in the acute phase of the disease, its effectiveness in