Catarina de Fatima Pereira Teixeira

• Abstract

  Successful drug development requires a disease target that plays a vital role in the causation and/or progression of the disease phenotype and that can be modulated with a drug molecule. In other words, therapeutically relevant targets are both “disease-modifying” and “druggable”. It has been estimated that around 10% of the entire human genome is involved in disease onset or progression,…

  Rational approach for searching molecular targets involved in inflammatory events and cell survival, AP.PCPE

• Abstract

  Secreted phospholipases A2 (sPLA2s) are major components of Bothrops snake venoms. These enzymes present high grade of homology with mammalian GIIA-PLA2s, which are markedly increased during inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis. Therefore, these snake enzymes constitute valuable tools for studies on the effects of mammalian inflammatory sPLA2s. MT-III, a GII-A Asp49-sFLA2 isola…

  Characterization of the effects of a snake venom Phospholipase A2 (MT-III) on smooth muscle vascular cells in culture: formation of foam cells and mechanisms involved in this effect, AP.R

• Abstract

  Bothrops genus snake venoms contain high amounts of secretory phospholipases A2 (sFLA2) with high grade of structural and functional homology with mammalian sFLA2, which are increased in inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis. We have recently shown that MT-III, a group IIA venom sFLA2 is able to directly induce lipid body formation and ADRP expression in macrophages. ADRP is a ke…

  Studies on the mechanisms involved in lipid body formation induced by a snake venom phospholipase A2 in isolated macrophages: participation of lipid homeosthasis factors, AP.R

(Only some records are available in English at this moment)

• Abstract

  Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by sustained synovitis. Moreover, this disease is primarily characterized by joint pain, swelling, stiffness, and accompanied by skeletal muscle wasting. Patients with RA suffer from loss of skeletal muscle mass or rheumatoid cachexia, which includes wasting of skeletal muscle tissue. Although the mechanism for the …

  Satellite cells: effects of lipocalin, hemolin and derived peptides on proliferation and differentiation of quiescent skeletal muscle cells, BP.PD

• Abstract

  Snake venoms of the Viperidae family contain proteinases of the metalloproteinases class, with potent inflammatory activity. These enzymes exhibit structural and functional homology with mammalian metalloproteinases (MMPs) whose levels are elevated in serum and joint fluid of patients with inflammatory arthropathies. Thus, venom metalloproteinases are useful tools for elucidating the acti…

  Study of the effects of an ofidian metalloproteinase in preadipocytes: activation of inflammatory response and cell differentiation, BP.MS

• Abstract

  The transcriptional modulation of pain-related genes in co-cultures of 3D neural spheroids (neurons, glial cells and Schwan cells) and 3D mimic of cartilage microenvironment (cultured with chondrocytes, synovicytes and macrophages) will be studied by RT_PCR arrays. The double 3D co-culture model allows for the in vitro modelling of the complex environment of joints and the peripheral noci…

  Pain in arthritis molecular mechanisms: identification of new targets for drug development, BP.PD

(Only some records are available in English at this moment)

• Abstract

  Phospholipases A2 (PLA2s) are abundant in snake venoms and have been widely employed as pharmacological tools to investigate the role of this class of enzymes in diverse pathophysiological processes. MT-III, an Asp49 PLA2 isolated from Bothrops asper snake venom is classified into the group IIA sPLA2s. Mammalian GIIA-PLA2s are highly expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and t…

  Study on the effects of MT-III, a snake venom secreted phospholipase A2 (sPLA2), on isolated rat and human aortic vascular smooth muscle cells: Dedifferentiation into a phagocytic active macrophage-like phenotype, BE.EP.DR

• Abstract

  Bothrops venoms contain high concentrations of secreted phospholipases A2 (sPLA2) which have structural and functional homology with mammalian PLA2s, whose levels are increased in inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis. We have recently demonstrated that MT-III, a sPLA2 group IIA, induced an increase in lipid body formation and expression of adipofilina (ADRP) or PLIN2, a protein i…

  Study of the role of PLIN2 in inflammatory response induced by MT-III, a Phospholipase A2 isolated from Bothrops asper snake venom: lipid bodies biogenesis and release of inflammatory mediators, BE.EP.DR