pathogens Review The Liver and the Hepatic Immune Response in Trypanosoma cruzi Infection, a Historical and Updated View Natalia Vacani-Martins 1, Marcelo Meuser-Batista 2 , Carina de Lima Pereira dos Santos 1, Alejandro Marcel Hasslocher-Moreno 3 and Andrea Henriques-Pons 1,* 1 Laboratório de Inovações em Terapias, Ensino e Bioprodutos, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 21041-361, Brazil;
[email protected] (N.V.-M.); carinalp@ioc.fiocruz.br (C.d.L.P.d.S.) 2 Depto de Anatomia Patológica e Citopatologia, Instituto Fernandes Figueira, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 22250-020, Brazil;
[email protected] 3 Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 21041-361, Brazil;
[email protected] * Correspondence: andreah@ioc.fiocruz.br Abstract: Chagas disease was described more than a century ago and, despite great efforts to understand the underlying mechanisms that lead to cardiac and digestive manifestations in chronic patients, much remains to be clarified. The disease is found beyond Latin America, including Japan, the USA, France, Spain, and Australia, and is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Dr. Carlos Chagas described Chagas disease in 1909 in Brazil, and hepatomegaly was among the clinical signs observed. Currently, hepatomegaly is cited in most papers published which either study acutely infected patients or experimental models, and we know that the parasite can infect multiple cell types Citation: Vacani-Martins, N.; in the liver, especially Kupffer cells and dendritic cells. Moreover, liver damage is more pronounced Meuser-Batista, M.; dos Santos, in cases of oral infection, which is mainly found in the Amazon region.