The use of peptides for immunodiagnosis of human Chagas disease.

Chagas disease, caused by the protozoa Trypanosoma cruzi, continues to be a serious public health problem in Latin America, worsened by the limitations in its detection. Given the importance of developing new diagnostic methods for this disease, the present review aimed to verify the number of publications dedicated to research on peptides that demonstrate their usefulness in serodiagnosis. To this end, a bibliographic survey was conducted on the PubMed platform using the keyword "peptide" or "epitope" combined with "Chagas disease" or "Trypanosoma cruzi"; "diagno*" or "serodiagnosis" or "immunodiagnosis", without period restriction. An increasing number of publications on studies employing peptides in ELISA and rapid tests assays was verified, which confirms the expansion of research in this field. It is possible to observe that many of the peptides tested so far originate from proteins widely used in the diagnosis of Chagas, and many of them are part of commercial tests developed. In this sense, as expected, promising results were obtained for several peptides when tested in ELISA, as many of them exhibited sensitivity and specificity values above 90%. Furthermore, some peptides have been tested in several studies, confirming their diagnostic potential. Despite the promising results observed, it is possible to emphasize the need for extensive testing of peptides, using different serological panels, in order to confirm their potential. The importance of producing an effective assay capable of detecting the clinical stages of the disease, as well as new immunogenic antigens that enable new serological diagnostic tools for Chagas disease, is evident.

Recombinant proteins as promising antigens applied to the immunodiagnosis of Chagas disease: a scoping review.

Chagas disease (CD), caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is an important public health problem, occurring mainly in Latin America. The disease has a major social and economical effect, negatively impacting the life of the infected individuals, and bringing great costs to public health. An early and accurate diagnosis is essential for administration of early treatment. In addition, prognostic tests may aid disease management, decreasing hospitalization costs. However, the serological diagnostic scenario for CD still faces several challenges, making the development of new diagnostic kits a pressing matter. Facing this scenario, several researchers have expanded efforts in developing and testing new antigens, such as recombinant proteins and recombinant multiepitope proteins, with promising results. These recombinant antigens offer several advantages, such as improved sensitivity and specificity, in addition to facilitated scaling. Also, it has been possible to observe a rising number of studies using ELISA and point-of-care platforms, employing these antigens in the past few years. Among them, recombinant proteins were the most applied antigens, demonstrating great capacity to discriminate between positive and negative samples. Although fewer in number, recombinant multiepitope proteins also demonstrated an improved diagnostic performance. Indeed, a great number of studies employing these antigens showed sensitivity and specificity values above 90%, greatly impacting diagnostic accuracy. Nevertheless, despite the good results found, it is still possible to observe some bottlenecks in the development of new antigens, such as the scarcity of tests with sera from the acute phase and the variability of results in different geographic areas. In this sense, aiming to contribute to control and health programs, the continuous search for a more accurate serological diagnosis is essential, both for the acute and chronic phases of the disease.

Utilização da cirurgia de mohs no tratamento de neoplasias malignas não melanocíticas da pele ­ uma revisão sistemática / Mohs micrographic surgery in the treatment of non-melanocytic skin neoplasms ­ a systematic review

Objetivo: Averiguar a efetividade da utilização da cirurgia de MOHS no manejo de tumores cutâneos tipo não melanoma em comparação a outros métodos de terapia. Métodos: O estudo consiste em uma revisão sistemática, cuja coleta de artigos ocorreu nas bases de dados MEDLINE, PubMed Central (PMC), LILACS e SciELO, utilizando os termos "Cirurgia de MOHS", "Câncer de pele", "Ensaio clínico", excluindo "melanoma". Resultados: Do total de 132 artigos identificados, foram considerados elegíveis 11. A análise dos artigos demonstrou que a CMM, comparada a outros métodos, apresentou resultados estéticos melhores, além de menor grau de complicações em tumores recorrentes e um custo/benefício variável com o país onde foi feita operação. A CMM também apresentou menores índices de recorrência em todos os estudos. Conclusão: No geral, a cirurgia de MOHS se mostrou um método terapêutico promissor. No entanto, existem ainda poucos estudos comparativos sobre a eficácia da CMM e os que existem se concentram em poucas regiões do mundo. (AU)

Objective: Evaluating the effectiveness of using MOHS surgery in the management of non-melanoma skin tumors compared to other therapy methods. Methods: The study consists of a systematic review, whose search for articles was performed using databases MEDLINE, PubMed Central (PMC), LILACS and SciELO, using the terms "MOHS surgery", "Skin cancer", "Clinical trial", excluding "melanoma". Results: from a total of 132 identified articles, 11 were considered eligible. The analysis of the articles showed that MMS, compared to other methods, presented better cosmetic results, in addition to a lower grade of complications in recurrent tumors and a variable cost/benefit according to the country where the surgery was performed. MMS also had lower recurrence rates in all studies. Conclusion:Overall, MOHS surgery has shown promising therapeutic results. However, there are still few comparative studies on the effectiveness of MMS and those that exist are concentrated in a few regions of the world. (AU)