Research Article
Lílian da Silva Santos,
Abstract
Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is a systemic disease with high prevalence in Brazil and some countries in Latin America. This study aimed to evaluate patients treated for PCM in an endemic area, to verify the use of serological markers in the control of cure of this mycosis. A follow-up study of 42 months was conducted with 26 patients, which had blood samples collected during and after treatment. All measures of serological markers were made by ELISA. The dosage of IgG, sTNF-RI and sTNF-RII allowed the segregation of majority of patients with PCM from health individuals during almost all the period analyzed. Although, some patients did not present detected levels of IgG and sTNF-RI at any moment. Concentrations of CCL2 and CCL3 were high during the treatment, with a tendency of decreasing along the time. CCL11 was detected with concentrations below the cut-off point during treatment, with increasing from the moment of its interruption. Concentrations of CCL24 did not change along the period analyzed. CXCL9 presented low concentrations during and after the interruption of treatment, without any association with clinical aspects. The variable concentrations found for all serological markers tested show the insecurity to use this parameters and the need of a continuous search for new markers to evaluate the control of cure of patients treated for PCM.