10 documents found, page 1 of 1
Π-Π stacking stabilized polymeric micelles for hydrophobic drug delivery in the...
Alves, Ana G. Gomes; Varela-Moreira, Aida; Cruz, Tânia; Duarte, Margarida; Castro, Helena; Moreira, Rui; Ressurreição, Ana S.; Storm, GertCurrent control strategies for leishmaniases − a group of diseases caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania − rely on chemotherapy, which is often associated with significant drawbacks, including severe side effects and limited drug efficacy. The public health impact of leishmaniases underscores the urgent need for new therapeutic approaches. Quinoline-(1H)-imines have emerged as promising lead com...
Quinolin-(1H)-imines as a new chemotype against leishmaniasis: biological evalu...
Alves, Ana G. Gomes; Duarte, Margarida; Cruz, Tânia; Castro, Helena; Lopes, Francisca; Moreira, Rui; Ressurreição, Ana S.; Tomás, Ana M.Leishmaniasis is one of the most challenging neglected tropical diseases and remains a global threat to public health. Currently available therapies for leishmaniases present significant drawbacks and are rendered increasingly inefficient due to parasite resistance, urging the need for more effective, safer, and cheaper drugs. In our efforts to identify novel chemical scaffolds for the development of antileishm...
Development of an automated image analysis protocol for quantification of intra...
Alves, Ana G. Gomes; Maia, André F.; Cruz, Tânia; Castro, Helena; Tomás, Ana M.Leishmania parasites cause a set of neglected tropical diseases with considerable public health impact, the leishmaniases, which are often fatal if left untreated. Since current treatments for the leishmaniases exhibit high toxicity, low efficacy and prohibitive prices, many laboratories throughout the world are engaged in research for the discovery of novel chemotherapeutics. This entails the necessity of scre...
Thaulin-1: The first antimicrobial peptide isolated from the skin of a Patagoni...
Marani, Mariela M.; Perez, Luis O.; Araujo, Alyne Rodrigues de; Plácido, Alexandra; Sousa, Carla F.; Quelemes, Patrick Veras; Oliveira, MayaraPatagonia's biodiversity has been explored from many points of view, however, skin secretions of native amphibians have not been evaluated for antimicrobial peptide research until now. In this sense, Pleurodema thaul is the first amphibian specie to be studied from this large region of South America. Analysis of cDNA-encoding peptide in skin samples allowed identification of four new antimicrobial peptides. The...
Ocellatin-PT antimicrobial peptides: high-resolution microscopy studies in anti...
Oliveira, Mayara; Alves, Ana G. Gomes; Sousa, Carla; Marani, Mariela Mirta; Plácido, Alexandra; Vale, Nuno; Delerue-Matos, Cristina; Gameiro, PaulaAlthough the mechanism of action of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) is not clear, they can interact electrostatically with the cell membranes of microorganisms. New ocellatin-PT peptides were recently isolated from the skin secretion of Leptodactylus pustulatus. The secondary structure of these AMPs and their effect on Leishmania infantum cells, and on different lipid surface models was characterized in this work...
Use of antimicrobial peptides and its nanogel formulations in the treatment of ...
Alves, Ana G. GomesParasites of the genus Leishmania are the causative agents of leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease endemic in many developing countries as well as in the Mediterranean area. Current treatments are inefficient, associated with high toxicity, severe side effects and most importantly, the high costs associated to the treatment are far from suitable for developing countries. In this sense, there is an urgent...
TLR9 activation dampens the early inflammatory response to paracoccidioides bra...
Menino, João Filipe; Saraiva, Margarida; Alves, Ana G. Gomes; Lobo-Silva, Diogo; Sturme, Mark H. J.; Gomes, Jéssica Angélica Rezende; Saraiva, Ana LauraBackground: Paracoccidioides brasiliensis causes paracoccidioidomycosis, one of the most prevalent systemic mycosis in Latin America. Thus, understanding the characteristics of the protective immune response to P. brasiliensis is of interest, as it may reveal targets for disease control. The initiation of the immune response relies on the activation of pattern recognition receptors, among which are TLRs. Both T...
Paracoccidioides brasiliensis: study of the sexual cycle
Alves, Ana G. GomesThe thermodimorphic fungal pathogen Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is the etiological agent of paracoccidioidomycosis, one of the most prevalent systemic mycoses endemic in Latin America, occurring mainly in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. The morphological transformation of P. brasiliensis is characterized by the existence of two different morphological forms: a mycelium/conidial form that is present at environ...
Morphological heterogeneity of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis: relevance of the ...
Menino, João F.; Osório, Nuno S.; Sturme, Mark H. J.; Barros, Diana Cláudia Martins Costa; Alves, Ana G. Gomes; Almeida, A. J.; Costa, Patrício SoaresParacoccidioides brasiliensis budding pattern and polymorphic growth were previously shown to be closely linked to the expression of PbCDC42 and to infl uence the pathogenesis of the fungus. In this work we conducted a detailed morphogenetic evaluation of the yeast-forms of 11 different clinical and environmental P. brasiliensis isolates comprising four phylogenetic lineages (S1, PS2, PS3 and Pb01-like), as wel...
Functionality of the paracoccidioides mating α-pheromone-receptor system
Gomes, Jéssica Angélica Rezende; Alves, Ana G. Gomes; Menino, João F.; Coelho, Marco; Ludovico, Paula; Gonçalves, Paula; Sturme, Mark H. J.Recent evidence suggests that Paracoccidioides species have the potential to undergo sexual reproduction, although no sexual cycle has been identified either in nature or under laboratory conditions. In the present work we detected low expression levels of the heterothallic MAT loci genes MAT1-1 and MAT1-2, the a-pheromone (PBa) gene, and the a- and apheromone receptor (PREB and PREA) genes in yeast and mycelia...