TGFB1 and infection: Besides the known enhancement of ECM during fibrosis process in vivo, our group demonstrated that cardiomyocytes highly infected with T. cruzi (72 and 96 h of infection) in vitro present low fibronectin expression, while adjacent non-infected cells show an intense network of extracellular matrix component similar to the control [36], even after treatment with TGF-β [33].