Publications

Malaria, caused by different species of protists of the genus Plasmodium, remains among the most common causes of death due to parasitic diseases worldwide, mainly for children aged under 5. One of the main obstacles to malaria eradication is the speed with which the pathogen evolves resistance to the drug schemes developed against it. For this reason, it remains urgent to find innovative therapeutic strategies offering sufficient specificity against the parasite to minimize resistance evolution and drug side effects. In this context, nanotechnology-based approaches are now being explored for their use as antimalarial drug delivery platforms due to the wide range of advantages and tuneable properties that they offer. However, major challenges remain to be addressed to provide a cost-efficient and targeted therapeutic strategy contributing to malaria eradication. The present work contains a systematic review of nanotechnology-based antimalarial drug delivery systems generated during the last 10 years. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Infectious Disease

JTD Keywords: Adjuvant system, Antimalarial activities, Antimalarial agent, Antimalarial drug, Antimalarial drugs, Antimalarials, Artemisinin resistance, Causes of death, Child, Controlled drug delivery, Diseases, Drug delivery system, Drug delivery systems, Drug interactions, Drug side-effects, Drug-delivery, Experimental modelling, Heparan-sulfate, Human, Humans, In-vitro, Malaria, Malaria vaccine, Mannosylated liposomes, Medical nanotechnology, Models, theoretical, Nanocarriers, Nanomedicine, Nanotechnology, Parasite-, Parasitics, Plasmodium, Plasmodium-falciparum malaria, Red-blood-cells, Targeted delivery, Targeted drug delivery, Theoretical model, Therapeutic strategy

Identification of asymptomatic patients at higher risk for suffering cardiac events remains controversial and challenging in Brugada syndrome (BS). In this work, we proposed an ECG-based classifier to predict BS-related symptoms, by merging the most predictive electrophysiological features derived from the ventricular depolarization and repolarization periods, along with autonomic-related markers. The initial feature space included local and dynamic ECG markers, assessed during a physical exercise test performed in 110 BS patients (25 symptomatic). Morphological, temporal and spatial properties quantifying the ECG dynamic response to exercise and recovery were considered. Our model was obtained by proposing a two-stage feature selection process that combined a resampled-based regularization approach with a wrapper model assessment for balancing, simplicity and performance. For the classification step, an ensemble was constructed by several logistic regression base classifiers, whose outputs were fused using a performance-based weighted average. The most relevant predictors corresponded to the repolarization interval, followed by two autonomic markers and two other makers of depolarization dynamics. Our classifier allowed for the identification of novel symptom-related markers from autonomic and dynamic ECG responses during exercise testing, suggesting the need for multifactorial risk stratification approaches in order to predict future cardiac events in asymptomatic BS patients.

JTD Keywords: brugada syndrome, depolarization disorders, ensemble classifier, heart-rate recovery, Acute myocardial-ischemia, Autonomics, Brugada syndrome, Brugadum syndrome, Cardiac death, Depolarization, Depolarization disorder, Depolarization disorders, Dynamic ecg, Electrocardiography, Electrophysiology, Ensemble classifier, Ensemble-classifier, Events, Exercise, Forecasting, Heart, Heart-rate, Heart-rate recovery, Prognosis, Qrs, Quantification, Recovery, Repolarization, Sudden cardiac death

Background: Opioid-related deaths are increasing globally. Respiratory complications of opioid use and underlying respiratory disease in people with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) are potential contributory factors. Individual variation in susceptibility to overdose is, however, incompletely understood. This study investigated the prevalence of respiratory depression (RD) in OUD treatment and compared this to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) of equivalent severity. We also explored the contribution of opioid agonist treatment (OAT) dosage, and type, to the prevalence of RD. Methods: There were four groups of participants: 1) OUD plus COPD (‘OUD-COPD’, n = 13); 2) OUD without COPD (‘OUD’, n = 7); 3) opioid-naïve COPD patients (‘COPD'n = 13); 4) healthy controls (‘HC'n = 7). Physiological indices, including pulse oximetry (SpO2%), end-tidal CO2 (ETCO2), transcutaneous CO2 (TcCO2), respiratory airflow and second intercostal space parasternal muscle electromyography (EMGpara), were recorded continuously over 40 min whilst awake at rest. Significant RD was defined as: SpO2%< 90% for > 10 s, ETCO2 per breath > 6.6 kPa, TcCO2 overall mean > 6 kPa, respiratory pauses > 10 s Results: At least one indicator was observed in every participant with OUD (n = 20). This compared to RD episode occurrence in only 2/7 HC and 2/13 COPD participants (p < 0.05,Fisher's exact test). The occurrence of RD was similar in OUD participants prescribed methadone (n = 6) compared to those prescribed buprenorphine (n = 12). Conclusions: Undetected RD is common in OUD cohorts receiving OAT and is significantly more severe than in opioid-naïve controls. RD can be assessed using simple objective measures. Further studies are required to determine the association between RD and overdose risk. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

JTD Keywords: buprenorphine, comorbidity, deaths, drive, heroin, lung disease, opioid substitution treatment, opioids, overdose, pulse oximetry, respiratory depression, risk, Acute exacerbations, Comorbidity, Lung disease, Opioid substitution treatment, Opioids, Overdose, Respiratory depression

Primary ventricular fibrillation (PVF) is a major driver of cardiac arrest in the acute phase of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Enrichment of cardiomyocyte plasma membranes with dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) reduces vulnerability to PVF experimentally, but clinical data are scarce. PUFA status in serum phospholipids is a valid surrogate biomarker of PUFA status in cardiomyocytes within a wide range of dietary PUFA. In this nested case-control study (n = 58 cases of STEMI-driven PVF, n = 116 control non-PVF STEMI patients matched for age, sex, smoking status, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus and hypertension) we determined fatty acids in serum phospholipids by gas-chromatography, and assessed differences between cases and controls, applying the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure on nominal P-values to control the false discovery rate (FDR). Significant differences between cases and controls were restricted to linoleic acid (LA), with PVF patients showing a lower level (nominal P = 0.002; FDR-corrected P = 0.027). In a conditional logistic regression model, each one standard deviation increase in the proportion of LA was related to a 42% lower prevalence of PVF (odds ratio = 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.37, 0.90; P = 0.02). The association lasted after the inclusion of confounders. Thus, regular consumption of LA-rich foods (nuts, oils from seeds) may protect against ischemia-driven malignant arrhythmias.

JTD Keywords: Arrhythmias, Fish-oil, Omega-3-fatty-acids, Sudden cardiac death

The use of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in the biomedical field deserves a mindful analysis of the possible inflammatory response which could limit their use in the clinic. Despite the anti-cancer properties of Ag NPs having been widely demonstrated, there are still few studies concerning their involvement in the activation of specific inflammatory pathways. The inflammatory outcome depends on the synthetic route used in the NPs production, in which toxic reagents are employed. In this work, we compared two types of Ag NPs, obtained by two different chemical routes: conventional synthesis using sodium citrate and a green protocol based on leaf extracts as a source of reduction and capping agents. A careful physicochemical characterization was carried out showing spherical and stable Ag NPs with an average size between 20 nm and 35 nm for conventional and green Ag NPs respectively. Then, we evaluated their ability to induce the activation of inflammation in Human Leukemic Monocytes (THP-1) differentiated into M0 macrophages using 1 µM and 2 µM NPs concentrations (corresponded to 0.1 µg/mL and 0.2 µg/mL respectively) and two-time points (24 h and 48 h). Our results showed a clear difference in Nuclear Factor ?B (NF-?b) activation, Interleukins 6–8 (IL-6, IL-8) secretion, Tumor Necrosis Factor-? (TNF-?) and Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression exerted by the two kinds of Ag NPs. Green Ag NPs were definitely tolerated by macrophages compared to conventional Ag NPs which induced the activation of all the factors mentioned above. Subsequently, the exposure of breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) to the green Ag NPs showed that they exhibited antitumor activity like the conventional ones, but surprisingly, using the MCF-10A line (not tumoral breast cells) the green Ag NPs did not cause a significant decrease in cell viability. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

JTD Keywords: activation, biosynthesis, gold nanoparticles, green route, inflammation response, mechanism, metal, nanotechnology, physico-chemical properties, raman-spectroscopy, resonance, silver nanoparticles, surface, Biomedical fields, Cell culture, Cell death, Chemical activation, Chemical routes, Conventional synthesis, Diseases, Green route, Inflammation response, Inflammatory response, Macrophages, Metal nanoparticles, Nf-kappa-b, Pathology, Physico-chemical properties, Physicochemical property, Property, Silver nanoparticles, Sodium compounds, Synthetic routes, Toxic reagents

High ambient temperature and humidity greatly increase the risk of hyperthermia and mortality, particularly in infants, who are especially prone to dehydration. World areas at high risk of heat stress include many of the low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) where most of their inhabitants have no access to air conditioning. This study aimed to design, evaluate, and test a novel low-cost and easy-to-assemble device aimed at preventing the risk of infant hyperthermia in LMICs. The device is based on optimizing negative heat transfer from a small amount of ice and transferring it directly to the infant by airflow of refrigerated air. As a proof of concept, a device was assembled mainly using recycled materials, and its performance was assessed under laboratory-controlled conditions in a climatic chamber mimicking realistic stress conditions of high temperature and humidity. The device, which can be assembled by any layperson using easily available materials, provided sufficient refrigerating capacity for several hours from just 1–2 kg of ice obtained from a domestic freezer. Thus, application of this novel device may serve to attenuate the adverse effects of heat stress in infants, particularly in the context of the evolving climatic change trends. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

JTD Keywords: air conditioning, ambient-temperature, death, heat, heat index, heat shock, heatwave, high ambient temperature, hyperthermia, low-cost refrigeration, low-middle income countries, mortality, negative heat transfer, Air conditioning, Algorithm, Article, Climate change, Cost benefit analysis, Environmental temperature, Heat index, Heat shock, Heat stress, Heat transfer, Heating, Heatwave, High ambient temperature, High temperature, Humidity, Hyperthermia, Low income country, Low-cost refrigeration, Low-middle income countries, Middle income country, Middle-income countries, Negative heat transfer, Prevention study, Refrigeration, Temperature stress, Thawing

Inhibitors of the lipogenic enzyme fatty acid synthase (FASN) have attracted much attention in the last decade as potential targeted cancer therapies. However, little is known about the molecular determinants of cancer cell sensitivity to FASN inhibitors (FASNis), which is a major roadblock to their therapeutic application. Here, we find that pharmacological starvation of endogenously produced FAs is a previously unrecognized metabolic stress that heightens mitochondrial apoptotic priming and favors cell death induction by BH3 mimetic inhibitors. Evaluation of the death decision circuits controlled by the BCL-2 family of proteins revealed that FASN inhibition is accompanied by the upregulation of the pro-death BH3-only proteins BIM, PUMA, and NOXA. Cell death triggered by FASN inhibition, which causally involves a palmitate/NADPH-related redox imbalance, is markedly diminished by concurrent loss of BIM or PUMA, suggesting that FASN activity controls cancer cell survival by fine-tuning the BH3 only proteins-dependent mitochondrial threshold for apoptosis. FASN inhibition results in a heightened mitochondrial apoptosis priming, shifting cells toward a primed-for-death state “addicted” to the anti-apoptotic protein BCL-2. Accordingly, co-administration of a FASNi synergistically augments the apoptosis-inducing activity of the dual BCL-XL/BCL-2 inhibitor ABT-263 (navitoclax) and the BCL-2 specific BH3-mimetic ABT-199 (venetoclax). FASN inhibition, however, fails to sensitize breast cancer cells to MCL-1- and BCL-XL-selective inhibitors such as S63845 and A1331852. A human breast cancer xenograft model evidenced that oral administration of the only clinically available FASNi drastically sensitizes FASN-addicted breast tumors to ineffective single-agents navitoclax and venetoclax in vivo. In summary, a novel FASN-driven facet of the mitochondrial priming mechanistically links the redox-buffering mechanism of FASN activity to the intrinsic apoptotic threshold in breast cancer cells. Combining next-generation FASNis with BCL-2-specific BH3 mimetics that directly activate the apoptotic machinery might generate more potent and longer-lasting antitumor responses in a clinical setting.

JTD Keywords: activation, apoptosis, bh3 mimetics, cytochrome-c, death, inhibition, metabolism, pathways, venetoclax, Bcl-2 family

In vitro research for the study of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is frequently limited by the availability of a functional model for islets of Langerhans. To overcome the limitations of obtaining pancreatic islets from different sources, such as animal models or human donors, immortalized cell lines as the insulin-producing INS1E beta-cells have appeared as a valid alternative to model insulin-related diseases. However, immortalized cell lines are mainly used in flat surfaces or monolayer distributions, not resembling the spheroid-like architecture of the pancreatic islets. To generate islet-like structures, the use of scaffolds appeared as a valid tool to promote cell aggregations. Traditionally-used hydrogel encapsulation methods do not accomplish all the requisites for pancreatic tissue engineering, as its poor nutrient and oxygen diffusion induces cell death. Here, we use cryogelation technology to develop a more resemblance scaffold with the mechanical and physical properties needed to engineer pancreatic tissue. This study shows that carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) cryogels prompted cells to generate beta-cell clusters in comparison to gelatin-based scaffolds, that did not induce this cell organization. Moreover, the high porosity achieved with CMC cryogels allowed us to create specific range pseudoislets. Pseudoislets formed within CMC-scaffolds showed cell viability for up to 7 d and a better response to glucose over conventional monolayer cultures. Overall, our results demonstrate that CMC-scaffolds can be used to control the organization and function of insulin-producing beta-cells, representing a suitable technique to generate beta-cell clusters to study pancreatic islet function.

JTD Keywords: biomaterial, cryogel, pancreatic islets, scaffold, tissue engineering, ?-cell, Architecture, Beta-cell, Beta-cell heterogeneity, Biomaterial, Carboxymethyl cellulose, Cell culture, Cell death, Cell engineering, Cell organization, Cells, Cellulose, Cryogel, Cryogels, Cytoarchitecture, Delivery, Encapsulation methods, Gelation, Gene-expression, Immortalized cells, Insulin, Insulin secretory responses, Islets of langerhans, Mechanical and physical properties, Monolayer culture, Monolayers, Pancreatic islets, Pancreatic tissue, Pancreatic-islets, Proliferation, Scaffold, Scaffolds, Scaffolds (biology), Size, Tissue, Tissue engineering, Β-cell

Breast cancer is the most frequent type of cancer and the major cause of mortality in women. The rapid development of various therapeutic options has led to the improvement of treatment outcomes; nevertheless, one-third of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive patients relapse due to cancer cell acquired resistance. Here, we use dynamic BH3 profiling (DBP), a functional predictive assay that measures net changes in apoptotic priming, to find new effective treatments for ER+ breast cancer. We observed anti-apoptotic adaptations upon treatment that pointed to metronomic therapeutic combinations to enhance cytotoxicity and avoid resistance. Indeed, we found that the anti-apoptotic proteins BCL-xL and MCL-1 are crucial for ER+ breast cancer cells resistance to therapy, as they exert a dual inhibition of the pro-apoptotic protein BIM and compensate for each other. In addition, we identified the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib and two BH3 mimetics targeting these anti-apoptotic proteins, S63845 and A-1331852, as new potential therapies for this type of cancer. Therefore, we postulate the sequential inhibition of both proteins using BH3 mimetics as a new treatment option for refractory and relapsed ER+ breast cancer tumors.

JTD Keywords: apoptosis, bh3 mimetics, cell-line, chemotherapy, classification, dbp, death, er+ breast cancer, fulvestrant, her2, inhibitor, kinase, pik3ca, priming, resistance, targeted therapies, Apoptosis, Bh3 mimetics, Dbp, Endocrine therapy, Er plus breast cancer, Er+ breast cancer, Priming, Resistance, Targeted therapies

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Protein phase transitions are particularly amenable for cell signalling as these highly cooperative processes allow cells to make binary decisions in response to relatively small intracellular changes. The different processes of condensate formation and the distinct material properties of the resulting condensates provide a dictionary to modulate a range of decisions on cell fate. We argue that, on the one hand, the reversibility of liquid demixing offers a chance to arrest cell growth under specific circumstances. On the other hand, the transition to amyloids is better suited for terminal decisions such as those leading to apoptosis and necrosis. Here, we review recent examples of both scenarios, highlighting how mutations in signalling proteins affect the formation of biomolecular condensates with drastic effects on cell survival.

JTD Keywords: amyloid, cell death, deep mutagenesis, llps, rna-binding proteins, Amyloid, Cell death, Deep mutagenesis, Llps, Rna-binding proteins

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the most common causes of death; however, the early detection of patients at high risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) remains an issue. The aim of this study was to analyze the cardio-vascular couplings based on heart rate variability (HRV) and blood pressure variability (BPV) analyses in order to introduce new indices for noninvasive risk stratification in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy patients (IDC). High-resolution electrocardiogram (ECG) and continuous noninvasive blood pressure (BP) signals were recorded in 91 IDC patients and 49 healthy subjects (CON). The patients were stratified by their SCD risk as high risk (IDCHR) when after two years the subject either died or suffered life-threatening complications, and as low risk (IDCLR) when the subject remained stable during this period. Values were extracted from ECG and BP signals, the beat-to-beat interval, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and analyzed using the segmented Poincaré plot analysis (SPPA), the high-resolution joint symbolic dynamics (HRJSD) and the normalized short time partial directed coherence methods. Support vector machine (SVM) models were built to classify these patients according to SCD risk. IDCHR patients presented lowered HRV and increased BPV compared to both IDCLR patients and the control subjects, suggesting a decrease in their vagal activity and a compensation of sympathetic activity. Both, the cardio -systolic and -diastolic coupling strength was stronger in high-risk patients when comparing with low-risk patients. The cardio-systolic coupling analysis revealed that the systolic influence on heart rate gets weaker as the risk increases. The SVM IDCLR vs. IDCHR model achieved 98.9% accuracy with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.96. The IDC and the CON groups obtained 93.6% and 0.94 accuracy and AUC, respectively. To simulate a circumstance in which the original status of the subject is unknown, a cascade model was built fusing the aforementioned models, and achieved 94.4% accuracy. In conclusion, this study introduced a novel method for SCD risk stratification for IDC patients based on new indices from coupling analysis and non-linear HRV and BPV. We have uncovered some of the complex interactions within the autonomic regulation in this type of patient.

JTD Keywords: Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, Heart rate variability, Blood pressure variability, Coupling analysis, Sudden cardiac death, Risk stratification

The conversion of cellular prion protein (PrPc) a GPI-anchored protein, into a protease-K-resistant and infective form (generally termed PrPsc) is mainly responsible for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs), characterized by neuronal degeneration and progressive loss of basic brain functions. Although PrPc is expressed by a wide range of tissues throughout the body, the complete repertoire of its functions has not been fully deter-mined. Recent studies have confirmed its participation in basic physiological processes such as cell proliferation and the regulation of cellular homeostasis. Other studies indicate that PrPc interacts with several molecules to activate signaling cascades with a high number of cellular effects. To deter-mine PrPc functions, transgenic mouse models have been generated in the last decade. In particular, mice lacking specific domains of the PrPc protein have revealed the contribution of these domains to neurodegenerative processes. A dual role of PrPc has been shown, since most authors report protective roles for this protein while others describe pro-apoptotic functions. in this review, we summarize new findings on PrPc functions, especially those related to neural degeneration and cell signaling.

JTD Keywords: Prion, Doppel, Shadoo, Cell death, Cell proliferation, Cell differentiation