Publications by authors named "Valeria R Alves Pereira"

Leishmaniasis is a neglected disease caused by parasites of the genus Leishmania sp. that causes approximately 1 million cases and 650,000 deaths annually worldwide. Its treatment has several limitations mainly due to high toxicity and clinical resistance, and the search for alternatives is highly desirable.

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Trypanosomatidae diseases, such as Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, are caused by protozoan parasites of the Trypanosomatidae family, namely Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania species, respectively. There is an urgent need for new therapies. Both pyridine and thiazole rings are recognized as important scaffolds in medicinal chemistry.

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Article Synopsis
  • T. cruzi causes Chagas disease, affecting 6-7 million people globally, and current treatments like benznidazole are highly toxic and only work in the acute phase.
  • Researchers developed and analyzed thirteen new phenoxyhydrazine-thiazole compounds, demonstrating effective anti-T. cruzi activity with most showing low toxicity in mammalian cells.
  • The compound LIZ311 emerged as a promising candidate, inducing significant immune responses without harming mammalian cells, and exhibiting potent effects against different life stages of T. cruzi.
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To synthesize novel more potent trypanocidal and leishmanicidal agents. Hantzsch's synthetic strategy was used to synthesize 1,3-thiazole-4-carboxylates and their -benzylated derivatives. 28 new thiazole-carboxylates and their -benzylated derivatives were established to test their trypanocidal and leishmanicidal activities.

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Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem and one of the top ten causes of death worldwide. The alarming increase in multidrug-resistant and extensively resistant variants (MDR, pre-XDR, and XDR) makes the disease more difficult to treat and control. New drugs that act against MDR/XDR strains are needed for programs to contain this major epidemic.

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In this work, 13 thiosemicarbazones (1a - m) and 16 thiazoles (2a - p) were obtained, which were properly characterized by spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques. The pharmacokinetic properties obtained in silico revealed that the derivatives are in accordance with the parameters established by lipinski and veber, showing that such compounds have good bioavailability or permeability when administered orally. In assays of antioxidant activity, thiosemicarbazones showed moderate to high antioxidant potential when compared to thiazoles.

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Neglected diseases are a group of transmissible diseases that occur mostly in countries in tropical climates. Among this group, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis stand out, considered threats to global health. Treatment for these diseases is limited.

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Chagas disease causes more deaths in the Americas than any other parasitic disease. Initially confined to the American continent, it is increasingly becoming a global health problem. In fact, it is considered to be an "exotic" disease in Europe, being virtually undiagnosed.

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The leishmaniases are a collection of vector-borne parasitic diseases caused by a number of different species that are distributed worldwide. Clinical and laboratory research have together revealed several important immune components that control infection and indicate the potential of immunization to prevent leishmaniasis. In this review we introduce previous and ongoing experimental research efforts to develop vaccines against species.

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Background: Lectins have been studied in recent years due to their immunomodulatory activities.

Objective: We purified a lectin named OniL from tilapia fish (Oreochromis niloticus) and here we analyzed the cell proliferation and cytokine production in Balb/c mice splenocytes.

Methods: Cells were stimulated in vitro in 24, 48, 72 hours and 6 days with different concentrations of OniL and Con A.

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Objectives: Nutritional aggression in critical periods may lead to epigenetic changes that affect gene expression. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of neonatal malnutrition on the expression of toll-like receptor (TLR)-2, TLR-4, and NLRP3 receptors, caspase-1 enzyme, and interleukin (IL)-1 β production in macrophages infected with methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and methicillin-sensitive (MSSA) Staphylococcus aureus.

Methods: Wistar rats (N = 24) were divided in two distinct groups: nourished (17% casein) and malnourished (8% casein).

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A terpyridine ligand Fctpy was reacted with divalent metals (Cu, Co, Mn, Ni and Zn), yielding five complexes of general formula [Metal(Fctpy)2][PF6]2. The structure of Fctpy was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. The complexes characterized using various spectroscopic techniques suggested an octahedral geometry around the central metal ion.

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Although effective against epimastigotes (proliferative form) and of low cytotoxicity in mammals, the aryl-4-oxothiazolylhydrazones (ATZ) display only limited activity against trypomastigotes (bloodstream form) of Trypanosoma cruzi. Considering the metal complexation approach with bioactive ligands as one possible strategy for improving the biological efficacy of ATZ, a set of eight new ruthenium-ATZ complexes (RuCl(2)ATZCOD, COD is 1,5-cyclooctadiene) were prepared, chemically and biologically characterized, including in vitro assays against epimastigotes and trypomastigote forms of the parasite and also assessment of cytotoxicity in mammals. Two of these complexes presented antitrypanosomal activity at non-cytotoxic concentrations on mammalian cells and of higher potency than its metal-free ligands, while the metallic precursor [RuCl(2)COD(MeCN)(2)] showed only moderate antitrypanosomal activity.

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Research in recent years has demonstrated that the Trypanosoma cruzi cysteine protease cruzain (TCC) is a valid chemotherapeutic target. Herein we describe a small library of aryl-4-oxothiazolylhydrazones that have been tested in assays against T. cruzi cell cultures.

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