17 documents found, page 1 of 2
Impact of neutrophil-activating protein conservation on diagnostic tests and va...
Diogo Gonçalves, Lídia Maria; Almeida, António J.; Calado, CecíliaBACKGROUND: The neutrophil activating protein (NAP) is a highly immunogenic and virulence factor of Helicobacter pylori, presenting inflammatory and immunomodulatory activity. Consequently, NAP has been explored as a diagnostic and therapeutic target. However, when evaluating a target protein to design diagnostic methods or vaccines, it is critical to determine the protein conservation among the bacterial popul...
Chitosan nanoparticles for enhanced immune response and delivery of multi-epito...
Amaral, Rita; Concha, Tomás; Vítor, Jorge; Almeida, António J.; Calado, Cecília; Diogo Gonçalves, Lídia MariaHelicobacter pylori is the leading cause of chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer, gastric adenocarcinoma, and mucosal-associated lymphoma. Due to the emerging problems with antibiotic treatment against H. pylori in clinical practice, H. pylori vaccination has gained more interest. Oral immunization is considered a promising approach for preventing initial colonization of this bacterium in the gastrointestinal tract,...
Impact of neutrophil-activating protein conservation on diagnostic tests and va...
Gonçalves, Lídia M. D.; Almeida, António J.; Calado, CecíliaBACKGROUND: The neutrophil activating protein (NAP) is a highly immunogenic and virulence factor of Helicobacter pylori, pre-senting inflammatory and immunomodulatory activity. Consequently, NAP has been explored as a diagnostic and therapeutictarget. However, when evaluating a target protein to design diagnostic methods or vaccines, it is critical to determine the pro-tein conservation among the bacterial popul...
Liposomal Delivery of Saquinavir to Macrophages Overcomes Cathepsin Blockade by...
Pires, David; Mandal, Manoj; Pinho, Jacinta O.; Catalão, Maria João; Almeida, António J.; Azevedo-Pereira, J. M.; Gaspar, Maria Manuela; Anes, ElsaMycobacterium tuberculosis is able to establish a chronic colonization of lung macrophages in a controlled replication manner, giving rise to a so-called latent infection. Conversely, when intracellular bacteria undergo actively uncontrolled replication rates, they provide the switch for the active infection called tuberculosis to occur. Our group found that the pathogen is able to manipulate the activity of en...
New Peptide Functionalized Nanostructured Lipid Carriers with CNS Drugs and Eva...
Silva, Sara; Marto, Joana; Gonçalves, Lídia; Duarte, Diana; Soares, Olívia Salomé G. P.; Vasques-Nóvoa, Francisco; Almeida, António J.; Vale, NunoNanoparticulate systems have been widely investigated as delivery vectors for efficient drug delivery in different diseases. Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) are composed of both solid and liquid lipids (glyceryl dibehenate and diethylene glycol monoethyl ether) and have demonstrated enhanced biological compatibility and increased drug loading capability. Furthermore, the use of peptides, in particular cell-...
Self-assembled hyaluronan nanocapsules for the intracellular delivery of antica...
Cadete, Ana; Olivera, Ana; Besev, Magnus; Dhal, Pradeep K.; Gonçalves, Lídia; Almeida, António J.; Bastiat, Guillaume; Benoit, Jean-PierrePreparation of sophisticated delivery systems for nanomedicine applications generally involve multi-step procedures using organic solvents. In this study, we have developed a simple self-assembling process to prepare docetaxel-loaded hyaluronic acid (HA) nanocapsules by using a self-emulsification process without the need of organic solvents, heat or high shear forces. These nanocapsules, which comprise an oily...
Transfection of pulmonary cells by stable pDNA-polycationic hybrid nanostructur...
Gaspar, Diana P.; Vital, Joana; Leiva, María C.; Gonçalves, Lídia M. D.; Taboada, Pablo; Remuñán-López, Carmen; Vítor, Jorge M. B.; Almeida, António J.Aim: Cationically modified solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) were investigated as plasmid DNA (pDNA) carriers and transfection agents for the pulmonary route. Materials & methods:pDNA-loaded SLN were produced using glyceryl dibehenate or tristearate as matrix lipids and chitosan as surface charge modifier, and encapsulated by spray-drying in mannitol and trehalose microspheres. Results: Nanoparticles of 200 nm, a...
Acrylic microparticles increase daptomycin intracellular and in vivo anti-biofi...
Woischnig, Anne Kathrin; Gonçalves, Lidia M.; Ferreira, Maxime; Kuehl, Richard; Kikhney, Judith; Moter, Annette; Ribeiro, Isabel A. C.Daptomycin (DAP) is a cyclic lipopeptide antibiotic with potential clinical application in orthopedic infections caused by staphylococci. However, it failed to eradicate Staphylococcus aureus in vitro, in intracellular infection studies, as well as in vivo in an experimental model of implant-associated biofilm infections. In this study, the antimicrobial effect of DAP encapsulated in poly(methyl methacrylate)-E...
BCG-loaded chitosan microparticles: interaction with macrophages and preliminar...
Caetano, Liliana Aranha; Figueiredo, Lara; Almeida, António J.; Gonçalves, L. M.The aim of this study was to develop a novel BCG-loaded chitosan vaccine with high association efficiency which can afford efficient interaction with APC and elicit local and Th1-type-specific immune response after intranasal administration. Chitosan-suspended BCG and BCG-loaded chitosan-alginate microparticles were prepared by ionotropic gelation. Interaction with APC was evaluated by fluorescence microscopy u...
BCG-loaded chitosan microparticles: interaction with macrophages and preliminar...
Caetano, Liliana Aranha; Figueiredo, Lara; Almeida, António J.; Gonçalves, L. M. D.The aim of this study was to develop a novel BCG-loaded chitosan vaccine with high association efficiency which can afford efficient interaction with APC and elicit local and Th1-type-specific immune response after intranasal administration. Chitosan-suspended BCG and BCG-loaded chitosan-alginate microparticles were prepared by ionotropic gelation. Interaction with APC was evaluated by fluorescence microscopy u...