24 documents found, page 1 of 3
The potential of peptide-based inhibitors in disrupting protein–protein interac...
Afonso, Alexandra L.; Cavaleiro, Catarina Tavares; Castanho, Miguel A. R. B.; Neves, Vera; Cavaco, MarcoProtein-protein interactions (PPIs) form an intricate cellular network known as the interactome, which is essential for various cellular processes, such as gene regulation, signal transduction, and metabolic pathways. The dysregulation of this network has been closely linked to various disease states. In cancer, these aberrant PPIs, termed oncogenic PPIs (OncoPPIs), are involved in tumour formation and prolifer...
PepH3-modified nanocarriers for delivery of therapeutics across the blood-brain...
Szecskó, Anikó; Mészáros, Mária; Simões, Beatriz T.; Cavaco, Marco; Chaparro, Catarina; Porkoláb, Gergő; Castanho, Miguel A. R. B.; Deli, Mária A.Background: Nanocarriers targeting the blood-brain barrier (BBB) are promising drug delivery systems to enhance the penetration of therapeutic molecules into the brain. Immunotherapy, particularly monoclonal antibodies designed to bind amyloid-beta peptides have become a promising strategy for Alzheimer's disease, but ensuring efficacy and safety is challenging and crucial for these therapies. Our aim was to de...
Antimigratory and antiproliferative effects of the brain‐targeted peptide conju...
Gonçalves, Catarina; Castanho, Miguel A. R. B.; Cavaco, Marco; Neves, VeraTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive breast cancer subtype affecting mostly younger women with a poor 5-year overall survival. It is characterized by a high metastization rate, particularly to the brain, where the blood-brain barrier (BBB) hinders the pharmaceuticals delivery. New anticancer drugs able to inhibit cell migration are required to effectively prevent the development of metastasis. ...
The use of a selective, nontoxic dual-acting peptide for breast cancer patients...
Cavaco, Marco; Pérez-Peinado, Clara; Valle, Javier; Silva, Rúben; Gano, Lurdes; Correia, João D. G.; Andreu, David; Castanho, Miguel A. R. B.Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype characterized by the absence of commonly targeted receptors. Unspecific chemotherapy is currently the main therapeutic option, with poor results. Another major challenge is the frequent appearance of brain metastasis (BM) associated with a significant decrease in patient overall survival. The treatment of BM is even more challenging due to the presen...
vCPP2319 interacts with metastatic breast cancer extracellular vesicles (EVs) a...
Oliveira, Filipa; Cavaco, Marco; Figueira, Tiago Nascimento; Napoleão, Patricia; Valle, Javier; Neves, Vera; Andreu, David; Castanho, Miguel A. R. B.Brain metastases (BM) are frequently found in cancer patients and, though their precise incidence is difficult to estimate, there is evidence for a correlation between BM and specific primary cancers, such as lung, breast, and skin (melanoma). Among all these, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed among women and, in this case, BM cause a critical reduction of the overall survival (OS), especially in t...
Rabbit derived VL single-domains as promising scaffolds to generate antibody–dr...
André, Ana; Dias, Joana N. R.; Aguiar, Sandra I; Nogueira, Sara; Bule, Pedro; Carvalho, Joana; António, João P. M.; Cavaco, Marco; Neves, VeraAntibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are among the fastest-growing classes of therapeutics in oncology. Although ADCs are in the spotlight, they still present significant engineering challenges. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop more stable and effective ADCs. Most rabbit light chains have an extra disulfide bridge, that links the variable and constant domains, between Cys80 and Cys171, which is not foun...
Trans-BBB peptides for targeting brain metastasis
Cavaco, MarcoCancer is a heterogeneous and still not well-understood disease, being one of the most significant health problems worldwide. Among women, the most common cancer type is breast cancer. It accounts for 1 in 4 cancer cases and 1 in 6 cancer deaths. There are different breast cancer subtypes according to the histological or molecular profile of cancer biopsies. This differentiation is highly important since they p...
The use of antibody-antibiotic conjugates to fight bacterial infections
Cavaco, Marco; Castanho, Miguel A. R. B.; Neves, VeraThe emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is rapidly increasing and it is one of the significant twenty-first century’s healthcare challenges. Unfortunately, the development of effective antimicrobial agents is a much slower and complex process compared to the spread of AMR. Consequently, the current options in the treatment of AMR are limited. One of the main alternatives to conventional antibiotics is t...
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...
Highly Specific Blood-Brain Barrier Transmigrating Single-Domain Antibodies Sel...
Aguiar, Sandra Isabel; Dias, Joana N. R.; André, Ana Santos; Silva, Marta Lisete; Martins, Diana; Carrapiço, Belmira; Castanho, Miguel A. R. B.A major bottleneck in the successful development of central nervous system (CNS) drugs is the discovery and design of molecules that can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Nano-delivery strategies are a promising approach that take advantage of natural portals of entry into the brain such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting endogenous BBB receptors. However, the main selected mAbs rely on targeting broa...