6 documents found, page 1 of 1
Repurposing anti-cancer porphyrin derivative drugs to target SARS-CoV-2 envelope
Mendonça, Diogo A.; Cadima Couto, Carla Iris; Buga, Carolina C.; Arnaut, Zoe A.; Schaberle, Fabio A.; Arnaut, Luis G.; Castanho, Miguel A. R. B.Antiviral medicines to treat COVID-19 are still scarce. Porphyrins and porphyrin derivatives (PDs) usually present broad-spectrum antiviral activity with low risk of resistance development. In fact, some PDs are clinicall approved to be used in anti-cancer photodynamic therapy and repurposing clinically approved PDs might be an alternative to treat COVID-19. Here, we characterize the ability of temoporfin, vert...
Targeting Zika virus with new brain- and placenta-crossing peptide–porphyrin co...
Todorovski, Toni; Mendonça, Diogo A.; Fernandes-Siqueira, Lorena O.; Cruz-Oliveira, Christine; Guida, Giuseppina; Valle, Javier; Cavaco, MarcoViral disease outbreaks affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide and remain a serious threat to global health. The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and other recent geographically-confined viral outbreaks (severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Ebola, dengue, zika and ever-recurring seasonal influenza), also with devastating tolls at sanitary and socio-economic levels, are sobering reminders in this respec...
Penetrating the blood brain barrier with new peptide porphyrin conjugates havin...
Mendonça, Diogo A.; Bakker, Mariët; Cruz-Oliveira, Christine; Neves, Vera; Angeles Jiménez, Maria; Defaus, Sira; Cavaco, Marco; Veiga, Ana SaloméPassing through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to treat neurological conditions is one of the main hurdles in modern medicine. Many drugs with promising in vitro profiles become ineffective in vivo due to BBB restrictive permeability. In particular, this includes drugs such as antiviral porphyrins, with the ability to fight brain-resident viruses causing diseases such as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (...
Enfuvirtide-protoporphyrin IX dual-loaded liposomes: in vitro evidence of syner...
Figueira, Tiago Nascimento; Domingues, Marco; Illien, Françoise; Cadima Couto, Carla Iris; Todorovski, Toni; Andreu, David; Sagan, SandrineWe have developed a nanocarrier consisting of large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) for combined delivery of two human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) entry inhibitors, enfuvirtide (ENF) and protoporphyrin IX (PPIX). The intrinsic lipophilicity of ENF and PPIX, a fusion inhibitor and an attachment inhibitor, respectively, leads to their spontaneous incorporation into the lipid bilayer of the LUVs nanocarrier....
Anti-HIV-1 Activity of pepRF1, a Proteolysis-Resistant CXCR4 Antagonist Derived...
Cadima Couto, Carla Iris; Tauzin, Alexandra; Freire, João Miguel; Figueira, Tiago N.; Silva, Rúben; Pérez-Peinado, Clara; Cunha-Santos, CatarinaThere is an urgent need for the development of new anti-HIV drugs that can complement existing medicines to be used against resistant strains. Here, we report the anti-HIV-1 peptide pepRF1, a human serum-resistant peptide derived from the Dengue virus capsid protein. In vitro, pepRF1 shows a 50% inhibitory concentration of 1.5 nM with a potential therapeutic window higher than 53 000. This peptide is specific f...
Anti-HIV-1 activity of pepRF1, a proteolysis-resistant CXCR4 antagonist derived...
Cadima Couto, Carla Iris; Tauzin, Alexandra; Freire, João Miguel; Figueira, Tiago N.; Silva, Rúben D. M.; Pérez-Peinado, Clara; Cunha-Santos, CatarinaThere is an urgent need for the development of new anti-HIV drugs that can complement existing medicines to be used against resistant strains. Here, we report the anti-HIV-1 peptide pepRF1, a human serum-resistant peptide derived from the Dengue virus capsid protein. In vitro, pepRF1 shows a 50% inhibitory concentration of 1.5 nM with a potential therapeutic window higher than 53 000. This peptide is specific f...