7 documents found, page 1 of 1
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...
Effect of celastrol on bone structure and mechanics in arthritic rats
Cascão, Rita; Vidal, Bruno; Jalmari Finnilä, Mikko Arttu; Lopes, Inês Pascoal; Teixeira, Rui Lourenço; Saarakkala, Simo; Moita, Luis FerreiraRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterised by chronic inflammation leading to articular bone and cartilage damage. Despite recent progress in RA management, adverse effects, lack of efficacy and economic barriers to treatment access still limit therapeutic success. Therefore, safer and less expensive treatments that control inflammation and bone resorption are needed. We have previously shown that celastrol is ...
Arthritis induces early bone high turnover, structural degradation and mechanic...
Vidal, Bruno; Cascão, Rita; Vale, Ana Catarina; Cavaleiro, Inês; Vaz, Maria Fátima; Brito, José Américo Almeida; Canhão, Helena; Fonseca, João EuricoBACKGROUND: We have previously found in the chronic SKG mouse model of arthritis that long standing (5 and 8 months) inflammation directly leads to high collagen bone turnover, disorganization of the collagen network, disturbed bone microstructure and degradation of bone biomechanical properties. The main goal of the present work was to study the effects of the first days of the inflammatory process on the micr...
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...
Cytokine pattern in very early rheumatoid arthritis favours B-cell activation a...
Moura, Rita A.; Cascão, Rita; Perpétuo, Inês; Canhao, Helena; Vieira-Sousa, Elsa; Mourão, Ana F.; Rodrigues, Ana M.; Polido-Pereira, JoaquimObjectives. B cells play an important role in the perpetuation of RA, particularly as autoantibody-producing cells. The ICs that further develop deposit in the joints and aggravate the inflammatory process. However, B-cell contribution in the very early stage of the disease remains unknown. The main goal of this work was to determine the concentration of cytokines potentially relevant for B-cell activation in s...
Chronic arthritis leads to disturbances in the bone collagen network
Caetano-Lopes, Joana; Nery, Ana M.; Canhao, Helena; Duarte, Joana; Cascão, Rita; Rodrigues, Ana; Perpétuo, Inês P.; Abdulghani, Saba; Amaral, Pedro M.Introduction: In this study we used a mice model of chronic arthritis to evaluate if bone fragility induced by chronic inflammation is associated with an imbalance in bone turnover and also a disorganization of the bone type I collagen network. Methods: Serum, vertebrae and femur bones were collected from eight-month-old polyarthritis SKG mice and controls. Strength of the femoral bones was evaluated using thre...
Identification of a cytokine network sustaining neutrophil and Th17 activation ...
Cascão, Rita; Moura, Rita A.; Perpétuo, Inês; Canhao, Helena; Vieira-Sousa, Elsa; Mourão, Ana F.; Rodrigues, Ana M.; Polido-Pereira, JoaquimIntroduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by sustained synovitis. Recently, several studies have proposed neutrophils and Th17 cells as key players in the onset and perpetuation of this disease. The main goal of this work was to determine whether cytokines driving neutrophil and Th17 activation are dysregulated in very early rheumatoid arthritis patients ...