Effect of rACLF, a recombinant snake venom metallopeptidase on cell viability, chemokine expression and degradation of extracellular matrix proteins.

Snake venom metallopeptidases (SVMPs) comprise a family of zinc-dependent enzymes, which display many different biological activities. ACLF is a 23kDa fibrinolytic non-hemorrhagic metallopeptidase from the venom of the snake Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus. We have previously developed an expression system for production of recombinant ACLF (rACLF) in bacteria.

The initial epidemiological studies in the low endemicity schistosomiasis area in Esteio, Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost Brazilian state, 1997 to 2000.

Nor Biomphalaria glabrata neither Schistosoma mansoni were reported from Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost Brazilian state before 1997. Their detection next to the Sinos River, Esteio, confirmed predictions of schistosomiasis expansion to the south. Parasitological examinations both in snails and fecal samples from the human population were performed from 1997 to 2000.