Transcriptomes of Latent and Active Human African Trypanosomiasis Cases. HAT Transcriptomes

Trypanosoma brucei gambiense causes 97% of African sleeping sickness cases and was believed to be invariably fatal. The recent discovery of asymptomatic individuals demonstrates that this is not the case. Latent cases are positive for trypanosomes using antibody and PCR assays, although no symptoms are presented nor are parasites found within the vasculature. The trypanosomes infecting latent individuals have been characterised and do not differ from those in symptomatic patients, indicating that the individuals directly moderate infection. To understand host factors that associate with the latent phenotype, RNA was isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 7 uninfected, 14 symptomatic HAT patients and 14 individuals with a latent T. b. gambiense infection. These samples were used to sequence the transcriptomes and identify associating factors.