Browsing by Author "Oliveira, Marta I."
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- Fibrinogen scaffolds with immunomodulatory properties promote in vivo bone regenerationPublication . Vasconcelos, Daniel M.; Gonçalves, Raquel M.; Almeida, Catarina R.; Pereira, Inês O.; Oliveira, Marta I.; Neves, Nuno; Silva, Andreia M.; Ribeiro, António C.; Cunha, Carla; Almeida, Ana R.; Ribeiro, Cristina C.; Gil, Ana M.; Seebach, Elisabeth; Kynast, Katharina L.; Richter, Wiltrud; Lamghari, Meriem; Santos, Susana G.; Barbosa, Mário A.The hypothesis behind this work is that fibrinogen (Fg), classically considered a pro-inflammatory protein, can promote bone repair/regeneration. Injury and biomaterial implantation naturally lead to an inflammatory response, which should be under control, but not necessarily minimized. Herein, porous scaffolds entirely constituted of Fg (Fg-3D) were implanted in a femoral rat bone defect and investigated at two important time points, addressing the bone regenerative process and the local and systemic immune responses, both crucial to elucidate the mechanisms of tissue remodelling. Fg-3D led to early infiltration of granulation tissue (6 days post-implantation), followed by bone defect closure, including periosteum repair (8 weeks post-injury). In the acute inflammatory phase (6 days) local gene expression analysis revealed significant increases of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8, when compared with non-operated animals. This correlated with modified proportions of systemic immune cell populations, namely increased T cells and decreased B, NK and NKT lymphocytes and myeloid cell, including the Mac- 1þ (CD18þ/CD11bþ) subpopulation. At 8 weeks, Fg-3D led to decreased plasma levels of IL-1b and increased TGF-b1. Thus, our data supports the hypothesis, establishing a link between bone repair induced by Fg-3D and the immune response. In this sense, Fg-3D scaffolds may be considered immunomodulatory biomaterials.
- Phenotypic analysis of urothelial exfoliated cells in bladder cancer via microfluidic immunoassays: Sialyl-Tn as a novel biomarker in liquid biopsiesPublication . Carvalho, Sandra; Abreu, Catarina M.; Ferreira, Dylan; Lima, Luís; Santos, Lúcio L.; Ribeiro, Ricardo; Grenha, Vânia; Martínez-Fernández, Mónica; Duenas, Marta; Suárez-Cabrera, Cristian; Paramio, Jesus M.; Diéguez, Lorena; Freitas, Paulo P.; Oliveira, Marta I.Bladder cancer is the most common malignancy of the urinary tract, having one of the highest recurrence rates and progression from non-muscle to muscle invasive bladder cancer that commonly leads to metastasis. Cystoscopy and urine cytology are the standard procedures for its detection but have limited clinical sensitivity and specificity. Herein, a microfluidic device, the UriChip, was developed for the enrichment of urothelial exfoliated cells from fresh and frozen urine, based on deformability and size, and the cancer-associated glycan Sialyl-Tn explored as a putative bladder cancer urinary biomarker.