Antibodies to laminin in Chagas' disease.

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Abstract
Sera from humans with Chagas'' disease and rhesus monkeys infected with Trypanosoma cruzi contain IgM and IgG antibodies, react with structures in a variety of connective tissues. These antibodies react with laminin but not with various other purified connective tissue components like collagen types I, III, IV and V, fibronectin, heparan sulfate (BM-1) proteoglycan or chondronectin. The tissue-reacting antibodies were isolated by absorption to a laminin-Sepharose column. The bound fraction contained all the tissue-reacting antibodies. These antibodies strongly stained trypomastigotes and amastigotes, but weakly stained epimastigotes. Sera from T. cruzi-infected primates contain antilaminin antibodies which may be produced by the host in response to a laminin-like molecule present in the parasite.