Publications by authors named "Adriana Esteves"

Cystic Echinococcosis is a cosmopolitan zoonosis closely linked to poverty and ignorance. It affects both cattle and humans, causing significant losses to both human and animal health. To date, there is no effective way to combat this.

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Dogs are the main source of animal and human cystic echinococcosis caused by the Cestode parasite Echinococcus granulosus. Dog vaccination seems to be a good strategy to control this parasitic disease. Here we present the development of a polymeric nanoparticle-based oral vaccine for dogs against Echinococcus granulosus delivered in enteric-coated capsules.

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Cold environments are more frequent than people think. They include deep oceans, cold lakes, snow, permafrost, sea ice, glaciers, cold soils, cold deserts, caves, areas at elevations greater than 3000 m, and also artificial refrigeration systems. These environments are inhabited by a diversity of eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms that must adapt to the hard conditions imposed by cold.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers created a 3D model of a specific nuclear receptor from a type of flatworm using advanced modeling techniques, revealing key structural features.
  • * Their findings show that certain fatty acids can bind to this receptor, which could inform the development of new medications to target these proteins, especially since they aren't found in vertebrates.
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The intestinal fatty acid binding protein (FABP) is a small protein expressed along the small intestine that bind long-chain fatty acids and other hydrophobic ligands. Several lines of evidence suggest that, once in the nucleus, it interacts with nuclear receptors, activating them and thus transferring the bound ligand into the nucleus. Previous work by our group suggests that FABP2 would participate in the cytoplasm-nucleus translocation of fatty acids.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Nuclear receptors are proteins that activate gene expression and are categorized into seven subfamilies, with a newly discovered subfamily featuring two DNA-binding domains (2DBDs) found in the parasite Schistosoma mansoni.
  • - This research focuses on cloning and analyzing the Eg2DBDα receptor from the Echinococcus granulosus parasite, examining its gene structure and expression, as well as other related receptors found in parasite databases.
  • - The study also explores the evolutionary relationships between these unique 2DBD nuclear receptors in various cestodes, highlighting their potential role in drug development against parasitic infections.
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Article Synopsis
  • - Echinococcus granulosus causes Cyst Echinococcosis, a zoonotic infection that poses health risks and economic challenges for many countries, with no effective vaccine yet developed after years of research.
  • - Researchers identified two new proteins, EgVAL1 and EgVAL2, from the parasitic superfamily expressed in the larval stage (protoscoleces), analyzing their sequences to predict their functions in relation to known vertebrate and helminth proteins.
  • - Immunolocalization studies indicated that these newly discovered proteins might play a role in inhibiting protease activity, highlighting their potential significance in developing a vaccine against this parasitic infection.
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Two fatty acid binding proteins, EgFABP1 and EgFABP2, were isolated from the parasitic platyhelminth Echinococcus granulosus. These proteins bind fatty acids and have particular relevance in flatworms since de novo fatty acids synthesis is absent. Therefore platyhelminthes depend on the capture and intracellular distribution of host's lipids and fatty acid binding proteins could participate in lipid distribution.

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Article Synopsis
  • Intracellular lipid binding proteins like FABPs 1 and 2 are prominent in tissues that engage in lipid metabolism, with a study using zebrafish showing varying expression levels of fabp transcripts in different organs.* -
  • Feeding and diet composition can influence the transcription levels of fabp1b.1 and fabp2 in the anterior intestine, indicating that diet impacts these proteins’ expression.* -
  • Research indicates that dietary fatty acids can interact with FABPs, allowing these fats to reach the enterocyte nucleus, suggesting a role for FABPs in influencing nuclear activity related to lipid metabolism.*
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Two fatty acid binding proteins, MvFABPa and MvFABPb were identified in the parasite Mesocestoides vogae (Platyhelmithes, Cestoda). Fatty acid binding proteins are small intracellular proteins whose members exhibit great diversity. Proteins of this family have been identified in many organisms, of which Platyhelminthes are among the most primitive.

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Background: Growth and maintenance of hydatid cysts produced by Echinococcus granulosus have a high requirement for host lipids for biosynthetic processes, membrane building and possibly cellular and developmental signalling. This requires a high degree of lipid trafficking facilitated by lipid transporter proteins. Members of the fatty acid binding protein (FABP) family have been identified in Echinococcus granulosus, one of which, EgFABP1 is expressed at the tegumental level in the protoscoleces, but it has also been described in both hydatid cyst fluid and secretions of protoscoleces.

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TWO MAIN FAMILIES OF LIPID BINDING PROTEINS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED IN PARASITIC PLATYHELMINTHES: hydrophobic ligand binding proteins (HLBPs) and fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs). Members of the former family of proteins are specific to the Cestoda class, while FABPs are conserved across a wide range of animal species. Because Platyhelminthes are unable to synthesize their own lipids, these lipid-binding proteins are important molecules in these organisms.

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The protein ReP1-NCXSQ was isolated from the cytosol of squid nerves and has been shown to be required for MgATP stimulation of the squid nerve Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger NCXSQ1. In order to determine its mode of action and the corresponding biologically active ligand, sequence analysis, crystal structures and mass-spectrometric studies of this protein and its Tyr128Phe mutant are reported. Sequence analysis suggests that it belongs to the CRABP family in the FABP superfamily.

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Fatty acid (FA) binding proteins are small intracellular proteins whose members exhibit great diversity and low similarity at the primary structure level, but a highly conserved three-dimensional structure. Characterised by a high-affinity non-covalent binding of hydrophobic ligands, these proteins have a molecular mass of 14-15 kDa with a characteristic β-barrel structure. Members of this family have been identified along the zoological scale, with Platyhelminthes being the more primitive organisms where they have been reported.

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Tropomyosins (Trps) constitute a family of actin filament-binding proteins found in all eukaryotic cells. In muscle cells, they play a central role in contraction by regulating calcium-sensitive interaction of actin and myosin. In non-muscle cells, tropomyosins regulate actin filament organization and dynamics.

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Dogs are the main source of human cystic echinococcosis. An oral vaccine would be an important contribution to control programs in endemic countries. We conducted two parallel experimental trials in Morocco and Tunisia of a new oral vaccine candidate against Echinococcus granulosus in 28 dogs.

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This work describes two new fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) identified in the parasite platyhelminth Mesocestoides vogae (syn. corti). The corresponding polypeptide chains share 62% identical residues and overall 90% similarity according to CLUSTALX default conditions.

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Many parasites undergo sudden changes in environmental conditions at some stage during their life cycle. The molecular response to this variation is characterised by a rapid transcriptional activation of a specific set of genes coding for proteins generically known as stress proteins. They appear to be also involved in various biological processes including cell proliferation and differentiation.

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Fatty acid binding proteins are multigenic cytosolic proteins largely distributed along the zoological scale. Their overall identity at primary and tertiary structure is conserved. They are involved in the uptake and transport of hydrophobic ligands to different cellular fates.

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We describe the 1.6 A crystal structure of the fatty-acid-binding protein EgFABP1 from the parasitic platyhelminth Echinococcus granulosus. E.

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This work describes a new gene coding for a fatty acid binding protein (FABP) in the parasite Echinococcus granulosus, named EgFABP2. The complete gene structure, including the promoter sequence, is reported. The genomic coding domain organisation of the previously reported E.

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