Publications by authors named "Luiza Dos Reis Cruz"

Article Synopsis
  • American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis (ATL) is a serious disease prevalent in Brazil, caused by the parasite Leishmania amazonensis, and there is a pressing need for effective vaccine development due to current treatment challenges.
  • The study focuses on creating a chimeric protein (rChiP) that combines various T-cell epitopes from L. amazonensis and L. braziliensis, which was tested in a mouse model to evaluate its immune response.
  • Results showed that the rChiP formulations led to increased T-cell activity, reduced skin lesions, and lower parasite levels, suggesting these vaccines could effectively combat ATL and serve as valuable prevention tools.
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Tegumentary leishmaniasis (TL) is a disease of high severity and incidence in Brazil, and Leishmania braziliensis is its main etiological agent. The inefficiency of control measures, such as high toxicity and costs of current treatments and the lack of effective immunoprophylactic strategies, makes the development of vaccines indispensable and imminent. In this light, the present work developed a gene encoding multiple T-cell (CD4/CD8) epitope, derived from conserved proteins found in Leishmania species and associated with TL, to generate a chimeric protein (rMEP/TL) and compose a vaccine formulation.

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Diagnosis of tegumentary leishmaniasis (TL) is essential to avoid permanent damage and severe functional sequelae and there is an urgent need to discover new antigens. The present study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the potential use of the Tryparedoxin Peroxidase (TryP) as an antigen for serological tests. The proposal integrates data from immunoproteomics with immunoinformatics, in addition to a precise analysis of protein levels in the evolutionary stages of the parasite by flow cytometry.

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Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a chronic relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive alcohol intake, loss of control over alcohol intake, and a negative emotional state when access to alcohol is prevented. AUD is also closely tied to pain, as repeated alcohol drinking leads to increased pain sensitivity during withdrawal. The sigma-2 receptor, recently identified as transmembrane protein 97 (σ2R/TMEM97), is an integral membrane protein involved in cholesterol homeostasis and lipid metabolism.

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