Chagas disease is a chronic systemic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, which affects much of the world's population. Although the causes that prevent progression to chronic phase are unknown, it has been associated with progression to severe forms of the disease, the progressive loss of multifunctionality of the T (LT) CD8+ lymphocytes. There are two drugs available to treat the disease: Nifurtimox and Benznidazole. However, treatment is not well tolerated by multiple side effects and use of treatment in the chronic phase of the disease is controversial. Therefore, it is important to seek alternative treatments to prevent progression to symptomatic chronic phase or to eliminate the parasite. Colombia has about 10% of plant species worldwide, which represent a rich source of compounds with therapeutic activities. Thus, it is important to the search for compounds that allow etiological treatment of patients as well as compounds that can modulate the immune response as an adjunct in the treatment of disease. the effect of extracts of Colombian plant species in total cytokine production by healthy individuals CD8+ T cells was analyzed. Finding that leaf extracts of S. C. fimbriata sessiliflora and induce the production of IFN- and TNF- in LT CD8+ healthy individuals. These findings suggest that there are species of Colombian vegetable plants with immunostimulatory capacity and potential to be used in the search for compounds with trypanocidal activity.
