Paula Ferreira

Universidade do Porto

Author Statistics

Papers

Citation

H-Index

i-10 index

Research Trends

Author Order

Document Type

Co-Authors

Adília Ribeiro

Universidade do Porto

Delfina Tavares

Universidade do Porto

Patrick Trieu‐Cuot

Institut Pasteur

Elva Bonifácio Andrade

i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto

Mário Arala‐Chaves

Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência

Pedro Madureira

i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto

Márcia Dinis

University of California, Los Angeles

Irina Amorim

Universidade do Porto

Fátima Gärtner

i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto

Patrícia F. Barradas

Universidade do Porto

Cooperative Institutions

Universidade do Porto

i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto

University of Lisbon

Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular

Institute of Biomedical Science

University of Minho

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Inserm

Institut Pasteur

Université Paris Cité

Author Statistics

Papers

Citation

H-Index

i-10 index

Research Field

Serological and molecular evidence of Bartonella henselae in cats from Luanda city, Angola

Acta Tropica (2019)

Patrícia F. Barradas Rita de Sousa Hugo Vilhena Ana Oliveira Maria Francisca Luz

Bartonella

Cat-scratch disease

Amplicon

10.1016/j.actatropica.2019.04.012

Cite

Citations (7)

Molecular identification and characterization of Rickettsia spp. and other tick-borne pathogens in cattle and their ticks from Huambo, Angola

Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases (2020)

Patrícia F. Barradas João R. Mesquita Paula Ferreira Fátima Gärtner Madalena Carvalho

Amblyomma variegatum

Rhipicephalus

Theileria

Amblyomma

Anaplasmataceae

10.1016/j.ttbdis.2020.101583

Cite

Citations (22)

rEnolase Maternal Immunization Confers Caries Protection on Offspring

Journal of Dental Research (2011)

Márcia Dinis Gabriela Trigo Natividad Chaves A.J.M.M. Fonseca Adília Ribeiro

Therapeutic vaccination with Streptococcus sobrinus recombinant enolase (rEnolase) protects rats from dental caries. Here, we investigated the effect that maternal rEnolase vaccination before pregnancy had on the offspring’s immune response to S. sobrinus oral infection and dental caries progression. Female Wistar rats were immunized by intranasal and subcutaneous routes with rEnolase adsorbed onto aluminum hydroxide as adjuvant or similarly treated with the adjuvant alone (sham-immunized). Ten days after the last administration, the immunized females were paired with a male rat. The oral immune responses to S. sobrinus infection and dental caries in the offspring were evaluated. The results showed that pups born from rEnolase-immunized mothers had higher levels of rEnolase-specific salivary IgA and IgG antibodies (indicating a placental antibody transfer) and lower sulcal and proximal enamel caries scores than rats born from sham-immunized mothers. In conclusion, rEnolase maternal immunization before pregnancy provides offspring with protection against S. sobrinus-induced dental caries.

Streptococcus sobrinus

10.1177/0022034510391793

Cite

Citations (9)

Interaction with human plasminogen system turns on proteolytic activity in Streptococcus agalactiae and enhances its virulence in a mouse model

Microbes and Infection (2007)

Vanessa Magalhães Isabel Veiga-Malta Maria Rosário Almeida Marina Baptista Adília Ribeiro

10.1016/j.micinf.2007.06.001

Cite

Citations (45)

Protection against systemic candidiasis in mice immunized with secreted aspartic proteinase 2

Immunology (2004)

Manuel Vilanova Luzia Teixeira Íris Caramalho Egídio Torrado Andreia Marques

Summary Secreted aspartic proteinases (Sap) have been described as virulence factors implicated in the mechanisms of host colonization by the yeast Candida albicans in different types of candidiasis. Intraperitoneal inoculation of C. albicans into BALB/c mice rapidly leads to systemic candidiasis, with significant colonization of the kidneys measurable in the following week. In this study we assessed the potential of vaccination with C. albicans secreted aspartic proteinase 2 (Sap2) in preventing systemic candidiasis in BALB/c mice. Intradermal injection of highly purified native Sap2 protein incorporated in alum adjuvant provided efficient immune protection, as indicated by a 20‐fold decrease in the colonization of kidneys. The protective effect of Sap2 immunization with alum adjuvant was also observed in mice infected with a lethal inoculum of C. albicans . Immunization with the native Sap2 alone, as well as with a denatured recombinant form of the protein, also conferred protection, albeit to a lesser level. In all cases, protection correlated with an increase in serum antibodies to Sap2. Moreover, passive transfer of anti‐Sap2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) significantly decreased the yeast burden in kidneys of C. albicans ‐infected mice. This result shows that immune protection against systemic candidiasis in mice immunized with Sap2 is antibody‐mediated. Taken together, these analyses demonstrate that Sap2 can be successfully used as a vaccination target in systemic candidiasis and reveals the potential immunomodulatory role of Sap2 on C. albicans infection.

Systemic candidiasis

10.1111/j.1365-2567.2004.01819.x

Cite

Citations (70)

Increased Resistance to Systemic Candidiasis in Athymic or Interleukin‐10–Depleted Mice

The Journal of Infectious Diseases (2000)

Delfina Tavares Paula Ferreira Mário Arala‐Chaves

Candida albicans produces a virulence-associated immunomodulatory protein (p43), which activates lymphocytes polyclonally, suppresses specific antibody responses to Candida antigens, and potentiates systemic growth of C. albicans. In this study, athymic, unlike euthymic, C57BL/6 mice were resistant to systemic candidiasis and produced lower serum levels of interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-10. Pretreatment with p43 stimulated the production of both cytokines. Depletion of IL-10, but not of IL-4, in euthymic animals reestablished resistance and abrogated p43-dependent suppression of the specific antibody response and facilitated C. albicans growth. In agreement with these results, both immunosuppression and p43-mediated facilitation of the fungus growth were abolished in IL-10 knockout mice. These observations demonstrate the relevance of IL-10 in facilitating systemic candidiasis and suggest a critical role for the immunosuppressive virulence factor p43 in the process.

Systemic candidiasis

Immunosuppression

10.1086/315674

Cite

Citations (36)

Purification, and biochemical and biological characterization of an immunosuppressive and lymphocyte mitogenic protein secreted by Streptococcus sobrinus

International Immunology (1997)

Paula Ferreira Alexandra Le Bras Delfina Tavares Manuel Vilanova Adília Ribeiro

An immunosuppressive/mitogenic (ISM) protein was purified from the supernatants of cultures of Streptococcus sobrinus with an isoelectric point of 4.75 and a relative molecular mass of 38 kDa (p38). Treatment of C57BL/6 mice with p38 induced an increase in the numbers of non-specific splenic Ig-secreting plaque-forming cells (PFC) with peak responses on day 3 for IgM-secreting PFC and on day 5 for IgG-secreting PFC, with an isotype pattern consisting predominantly of IgG2a and IgG2b. This increase was accompanied by a lymphocyte blastogenic response of both T and B lymphocytes. The in vitro effects of p38 on pure B, T and total splenic lymphocytes indicated that this ISM protein was primarily a B cell mitogen, being T cells activated subsequently by the generation of B blasts. Suppression of the murine primary immune response against sheep red blood cells was observed in C57BL/6 mice treated 4 days before with p38. The amino acid sequence of the N-terminus of p38 has a significant similarity with several enolases, particularly with rabbit enolase. However, the biological effects ascribed to p38 have not been detected after in vivo treatment with that enolase. The immunosuppressive effect of p38 was abrogated by depletion of IL-10 but not of IL-4. In agreement with this observation IL-10 was the only cytokine detected in serum of C57BL/6 mice after p38 treatment and the peak of serum levels was observed as soon as 2 h after treatment.

10.1093/intimm/9.11.1735

Cite

Citations (21)

Towards Cyberbullying Detection: Building, Benchmarking and Longitudinal Analysis of Aggressiveness and Conflicts/Attacks Datasets from Twitter

IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing (2024)

Paula Ferreira Nádia Pereira Hugo Rosa Sofia Oliveira Luísa Coheur

Benchmarking

10.1109/taffc.2024.3518587

Cite

Citations (0)

Enolase fromStreptococcus sobrinusis an immunosuppressive protein

Cellular Microbiology (2003)

Isabel Veiga-Malta Margarida Duarte Márcia Dinis Delfina Tavares Arnaldo Videira

A strategy of Streptococcus sobrinus, a major agent of dental caries, to survive and colonize the host consists of the production of a protein that suppresses the specific antibody responses. We have cloned the gene coding for a protein with immunosuppressive activity. It contains an open reading frame of 1302 base pairs encoding a polypeptide with 434 amino acid residues and a molecular mass of 46910 Da. The gene product is homologous to enolases from several organisms. The polypeptide was expressed in Escherichia coli as a hexahistidine-tagged protein and purified in a fluoride-sensitive enzymatically active form. Pretreatment of mice with the S. sobrinus recombinant enolase suppresses a primary immune response against T-cell dependent antigens. This immunosuppressive effect is specific to the antigen used in the immunization, as it is not observed when the immune response against other antigens is analysed. Furthermore, the S. sobrinus recombinant enolase stimulates an early production of interleukin-10, an anti-inflammatory cytokine, and not the pro-inflammatory cytokine IFN-γ. These observations indicate that enolase acts in the suppression of the specific host immune response against S. sobrinus infection.

Streptococcus sobrinus

Enolase

10.1046/j.1462-5822.2003.00344.x

Cite

Citations (55)

Identification of NAD⁺Synthetase fromStreptococcus sobrinusas a B-Cell-Stimulatory Protein

Journal of Bacteriology (2003)

Isabel Veiga-Malta Margarida Duarte Márcia Dinis Pedro Madureira Paula Ferreira

Streptococcus sobrinus, one agent of dental caries, secretes a protein that induces lymphocyte polyclonal activation of the host as a mechanism of immune evasion. We have isolated from culture supernatants of this bacterium a protein with murine B-cell-stimulatory properties and subsequently cloned the relevant gene. It contains an open reading frame of 825 bp encoding a polypeptide with 275 amino acid residues and a molecular mass of 30 kDa. The protein displays high sequence homology with NAD(+) synthetases from several organisms, including a conserved fingerprint sequence (SGGXD) characteristic of ATP pyrophosphatases. The polypeptide was expressed in Escherichia coli as a hexahistidine-tagged protein and purified in an enzymatically active form. The recombinant NAD(+) synthetase stimulates murine B cells after in vitro treatment of spleen cell cultures, as demonstrated by its ability to induce up-regulation of the expression of CD69, an early marker of lymphocyte activation. Stimulation with the recombinant NAD(+) synthetase was also observed with other B-cell markers, such as CD19(+), B220(+), and CD21(+). Cell proliferation follows the activation induced by the recombinant NAD(+) synthetase.

Streptococcus sobrinus

Identification

10.1128/jb.186.2.419-426.2004

Cite

Citations (4)