A Combined CXCL10, CXCL8 and H-FABP Panel for the Staging of Human African Trypanosomiasis Patients

Background: Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness, is a parasitic tropical disease. It progresses from the first, haemolymphatic stage to a neurological second stage due to invasion of parasites into the central nervous system (CNS). As treatment depends on the stage of disease, there is a critical need for tools that efficiently discriminate the two stages of HAT. We hypothesized that markers of brain damage discovered by proteomic strategies and inflammation-related proteins could individually or in combination indicate the CNS invasion by the parasite. Methods: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) originated from parasitologically confirmed Trypanosoma brucei gambiense patients. Patients were staged on the basis of CSF white blood cell (WBC) count and presence of parasites in CSF. One hundred samples were analysed: 21 from stage 1 (no trypanosomes in CSF and #5 WBC/mL) and 79 from stage 2 (trypanosomes in CSF and/or.5 WBC/mL) patients. The concentration of H-FABP, GSTP-1 and S100b in CSF was measured by ELISA. The level