Selenium Treatment and Chagasic Cardiopathy (STCC)

Summary

Background:

Chagasic myocardiopathy caused by the protozoa Trypanosoma cruzi has been the principal cause of cardiac death in Latin America. Without any trypanocidal therapeutic intervention, infected subjects can pass from the indeterminate to the cardiac form with heart dysfunction. Our group has studied the role and the effect of the supplementation with the essential micronutrient selenium (Se) on T. cruzi infection, and the investigators have verified that:

1. low Se levels is related to the severity of the myocardiopathy in chagasic patients
2. adequate Se diet is essential for mice survival at the acute phase of the experimental T. cruzi infection
3. Se supplementation prevented the myocardial lesions at the acute phase in mice. From these findings and considering that Se supplementation was able to prevent Keshan cardiopathy, to revert electrocardiographic and echocardiographic alterations in patients nourished by parenteral route, and reduced re-infarction and cardiac deaths from acute myocardial infarction; the investigators purpose to investigate if Se treatment via oral route, is able to impair the progress of heart dysfunction in chagasic patients expressed by the study of progression rate and by the comparison of the means of ventricular ejection fraction.

Methods:

The Selenium treatment and Chagasic Cardiopathy (STCC) trial is double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized in 130 chagasic patients at the chronic phase following the inclusion criteria of (a) altered ECHO (LVEF between 0,35 % and 45 %), (b) age between 20 and 65 years, (c) randomly divided in two groups: Placebo (n=65) and Se (n=65). Patients of Se group will intake diary 100 µg Se as sodium selenite for 12 months. The primary endpoint is the reduction of 50 % in the progression rate of heart dysfunction, and the secondary endpoint is a partial or total reversion in electrocardiography alterations.

Conclusion:

This trial was recently approved by Brazilian Research Ethics Committee and will be conducted in accordance with the principles for human experimentation. If the investigators confirmed the benefit of Se treatment, a strategy of utilization a micronutrient in an adequate concentration as a treatment in diary diet can revolutionize the therapeutic for chagasic myocardiopathy.

Conditions

• Chagas Disease

Interventions

DRUG

Selenium

selenium as a drug according to Brazilian regulation laws

DRUG

Placebo (for Selenium)

Placebo with similar flavor, smell and colour.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Ministry of Health, Brazil

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Oswaldo Cruz Foundation

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Tania C Araujo-Jorge, MD/PhD · Instituto Oswaldo Cruz

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2008-10-31

Primary Completion

2016-12-31

Completion

2020-12-31

Countries

• Brazil

Study Locations