5 documents found, page 1 of 1
Poly-N-acetyl glucosamine expression in Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm cell...
Ferreirinha, Pedro; Pérez-Cabezas, Begoña; Correia, Alexandra; Miyazawa, Bruna; Carvalhais, Virgínia Maria Dinis; França, Ângela Maria Oliveira SousaStaphylococcus epidermidis is a biofilm - forming bacterium and a leading etiological agent of nosocomial infections. The ability to establish biofilms on indwelling medical devices is a key virulence factor for this bacterium. Still, the influence of poly - N - acetyl glucosamine (PNAG), the major component of the extracellular biofilm matrix, in the host immune response has been scarcely studied. Here, t h is...
Plasmacytoid and conventional dendritic cells are early producers of IL-12 in N...
Teixeira, Luzia; Botelho, Ana Sofia; Mesquita, Sandro Gabriel Ferreira Dá; Correia, Alexandra; Cerca, Filipe; Costa, Renata; Sampaio, PaulaNeospora caninum is a coccidian parasite causative of clinical infections in a wide range of animal hosts. The maturation and activation of splenic conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) were studied here in BALB/c mice challenged intraperitoneal with N. caninum tachyzoites. The number of cDCs was found to decrease in the spleen of the infected mice 12 h and 2 days after the...
Extracellular matrix in Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms: a consequence of b...
Cerca, Filipe; Andrade, Filipa; Correia, Alexandra; Teixeira, Luzia; Magalhães, Ângela; Hinzmann, Mariana; Ferreira, Íris; Ribeiro, AdíliaStaphylococcus epidermidis is a leading pathogen accounting for nosocomial infections. The ability to form biofilms is considered the major virulence factor of this bacterium. The hallmark of this type of infection is the presence of an extracellular polymeric matrix that, in the case of S. epidermidis biofilms, is mainly constituted by an N-acetylglucosamine polymer. We have identified a subpopulation of bacte...
A study on the immune response elicited in mice challenged with Staphylococcus ...
Cerca, Filipe; Teixeira, Luzia; Cerca, Nuno; Madureira, Pedro; Ribeiro, Adília; Azeredo, Joana; Vilanova, ManuelIn this study a biofilm-forming strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis was used in order to evaluate, in a murine model, the immune response to bacteria grown either as planktonic cells or biofilm. Groups of male BALB/c mice were infected intra-peritoneally (i.p.), with 2×10^8 S. epidermidis cells per mice, obtained either from a mature biofilm (grown for 48h) or from a planktonic cell culture. Mice were sacrific...
Protection against systemic candidiasis in mice immunized with secreted asparti...
Vilanova, Manuel; Teixeira, Luzia; Caramalho, Íris; Torrado, Egídio; Marques, Andreia; Madureira, Pedro; Ribeiro, Adília; Ferreira, Paula; Gama, F. M.Secreted aspartic proteinases (Sap) have been described as virulence factors implicated in the mechanisms of host colonization by the yeast Candida albicans in different types of candidiasis. Intraperitoneal inoculation of C. albicans into BALB/c mice rapidly leads to systemic candidiasis, with significant colonization of the kidneys measurable in the following week. In this study we assessed the potential of v...