6 documents found, page 1 of 1
Tick-borne diseases in asymptomatic cattle from São Miguel Island, Azores – A c...
Felício, Maria; Zúquete, Sara; Lima, Patrícia; Delgado, Inês; Reis, Pedro; Romão, Ricardo; Nolasco, Sofia; Santos, Dulce; Basto, Afonso; Padre, LudovinaTick-borne diseases in asymptomatic cattle from São Miguel Island, Azores – A clinical perspective Introduction/Background: The Azores archipelago is one of the regions with the highest cattle production, in Portugal. Outbreaks of tick-borne (TB) diseases have been reported by local field veterinarians and different tick species are described in São Miguel. At this study, we decided to investigate the presence ...
S100B inhibition protects from chronic experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
Barros, Catarina; Barateiro, Andreia; Neto, Alexandre; Soromenho, Beatriz; Basto, Afonso; Mateus, Joana; Xapelli, Sara; Sebastião, Ana M; Brites, DoraStudies have correlated excessive S100B, a small inflammatory molecule, with demyelination and associated inflammatory processes occurring in multiple sclerosis. The relevance of S100B in multiple sclerosis pathology brought an emerging curiosity highlighting its use as a potential therapeutic target to reduce damage during the multiple sclerosis course, namely during inflammatory relapses. We examined the rele...
Micro RNAs in Tfh regulation : small molecules with a big impact
Basto, Afonso; Graca, LuisThe germinal center (GC) reactions are critical for the production of high-affinity antibodies that comprise the protective humoral response elicited by infection or vaccination. GCs are initiated through the interaction of B cells with T follicular helper (Tfh) cells. While the transcriptional regulation of Tfh differentiation has been studied in great detail, the impact of micro RNAs (miRNAs) on Tfh developme...
Peptidylprolyl isomerase C (Ppic) regulates invariant Natural Killer T cell (iN...
Paiva, Ricardo S.; Ramos, Camila V.; Azenha, Sara R.; Alves, Carolina; Basto, Afonso; Graca, Luis; Martins, Vera C.Peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase C (Ppic) is expressed in several bone marrow (BM) hematopoietic progenitors and in T-cell precursors. Since the expression profile of Ppic in the hematoimmune system was suggestive that it could play a role in hematopoiesis and/or T lymphocyte differentiation, we sought to test that hypothesis in vivo. Specifically, we generated a Ppic-deficient mouse model by targeting the e...
Immunophenotype of gastric tumors unveils a pleiotropic role of regulatory T ce...
Rocha, Sara; Basto, Afonso; Ijsselsteijn, Marieke E.; Teles, Sara P.; Azevedo, Maria M.; Gonçalves, Gilza; Gullo, Irene; Almeida, Gabriela M.Gastric cancer (GC) patients display increased regulatory T cell (Tregs) numbers in peripheral blood and among tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Nevertheless, the role of Tregs in GC progression remains controversial. Here, we sought to explore the impact of Tregs in GCs with distinct histology, and whether Tregs can directly influence tumor cell behavior and GC development. We performed a comprehensive immunophe...
Immune response profile elicited by the model antigen ovalbumin expressed in fu...
Basto, Afonso; Badenes, Marina; Almeida, Sílvia; Martins, Carlos; Duarte, António; Santos, Dulce; Leitão, AlexandreThe use of immunogenic formulations targeting pattern recognition receptors towards modulation of immune responses is a promising strategy to develop better vaccines against infectious and malignant diseases. Molecules targeting TLR2 offer interesting properties that are relevant for vaccine development, including the possibility to covalently attach the lipidic ligands to the antigens. However, the type of imm...