6 documents found, page 1 of 1
Disease tolerance and immunity in host protection against infection
Soares, Miguel P.; Teixeira, Luis; Moita, Luis F.The immune system probably evolved to limit the negative effects exerted by pathogens on host homeostasis. This defence strategy relies on the concerted action of innate and adaptive components of the immune system, which sense and target pathogens for containment, destruction or expulsion. Resistance to infection refers to these immune functions, which reduce the pathogen load of an infected host as the means ...
Celastrol: A Spectrum of Treatment Opportunities in Chronic Diseases
Cascão, Rita; Fonseca, João E.; Moita, Luis F.The identification of new bioactive compounds derived from medicinal plants with significant therapeutic properties has attracted considerable interest in recent years. Such is the case of the Tripterygium wilfordii (TW), an herb used in Chinese medicine. Clinical trials performed so far using its root extracts have shown impressive therapeutic properties but also revealed substantial gastrointestinal side effe...
Endosomal MR1 Trafficking Plays a Key Role in Presentation of Mycobacterium tub...
Harriff, Melanie J.; Karamooz, Elham; Burr, Ansen; Grant, Wilmon F.; Canfield, Elizabeth T.; Sorensen, Michelle L.; Moita, Luis F.; Lewinsohn, David M.Mucosal-Associated Invariant T (MAIT) cells, present in high frequency in airway and other mucosal tissues, have Th1 effector capacity positioning them to play a critical role in the early immune response to intracellular pathogens, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). MR1 is a highly conserved Class I-like molecule that presents vitamin B metabolites to MAIT cells. The mechanisms for loading these ubiqu...
Decrease of CD68 Synovial Macrophages in Celastrol Treated Arthritic Rats
Cascão, Rita; Vidal, Bruno; Lopes, Inês P.; Paisana, Eunice; Rino, José; Moita, Luis F.; Fonseca, João E.Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disease characterized by cellular infiltration into the joints, hyperproliferation of synovial cells and bone damage. Available treatments for RA only induce remission in around 30% of the patients, have important adverse effects and its use is limited by their high cost. Therefore, compounds that can control arthritis, with an acceptable safet...
Highly dynamic host actin reorganization around developing Plasmodium inside he...
Gomes-Santos, Carina S. S.; Itoe, Maurice A.; Afonso, Cristina; Henriques, Ricardo; Gardner, Rui; Sepúlveda, Nuno; Simões, Pedro D.; Raquel, HelenaPlasmodium sporozoites are transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes and infect hepatocytes, where a single sporozoite replicates into thousands of merozoites inside a parasitophorous vacuole. The nature of the Plasmodium-host cell interface, as well as the interactions occurring between these two organisms, remains largely unknown. Here we show that highly dynamic hepatocyte actin reorganization events occur around ...
Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein ESAT-6 is a potent activator of the NLRP3/AS...
Mishra, Bibhuti Bhusan; Moura-Alves, Pedro; Sonawane, Avinash; Hacohen, Nir; Griffiths, Gareth; Moita, Luis F.; Anes, ElsaInterleukin-1β (IL-1β) represents one of the most important mediators of inflammation and host responses to infection. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of human tuberculosis, induces IL-1β secretion at the site of infection, but the underlying mechanism(s) are poorly understood. In this work we show that Mtb infection of macrophages stimulates caspase-1 activity and promotes the secretion o...