Browsing by Author "Alexandre, Bruno"
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- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Proteomics: A Match for Success?Publication . Alexandre, Bruno; Penque, DeborahChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by chronic airflow limitation that is not fully reversible even under bronchodilators effect, caused by a mixture of small airway disease and parenchymal destruction. COPD is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in adults, and it is now the fourth leading death cause in the world. Cigarette smoking is the main risk factor for COPD but not all smokers will suffer from COPD, suggesting that genetic and other environmental factors are involved in this pathology. Current diagnosis is based on spirometry, but there is recurrent debate on fixed spirometric thresholds in use that lead to misdiagnosis and/or classification of COPD. The available treatments are not effective to reduce or suppress the progression of COPD. Hence, there is an urgent need to better understand the molecular mechanisms of COPD pathogenesis to provide clinicians with reliable diagnosis and treatment tools for COPD. Proteomics, defined by the comprehensive study of the proteome, has the potential to respond to this need by providing protein profiles of a particular disease and, at the same time, by identifying specific biomarkers that can be used to better understand, diagnose and manage the disease. Here, we shortly review COPD history and pathology and how proteomics can match COPD for success.
- Profiling the erythrocyte membrane proteome isolated from patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseasePublication . Alexandre, Bruno; Charro, Nuno; Blonder, Yosip; Lopes, Carlos; Almeida, Antonio Bugalho; Veenstra, Timothy; Penque, Deborah; Azevedo, Pilar; Chan, K.C.; Prieto, D.A.; Issaq, H.Structural and metabolic alterations in erythrocytes play an important role in the pathophysiology of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Whether these dysfunctions are related to the modulation of erythrocyte membrane proteins in patients diagnosed with COPD remains to be determined. Herein, a comparative proteomic profiling of the erythrocyte membrane fraction isolated from peripheral blood of smokers diagnosed with COPD and smokers with no COPD was performed using differential 16O/18O stable isotope labeling. A total of 219 proteins were quantified as being significantly differentially expressed within the erythrocyte membrane proteomes of smokers with COPD and healthy smokers. Functional pathway analysis showed that the most enriched biofunctions were related to cell-to-cell signaling and interaction, hematological system development, immune response, oxidative stress and cytoskeleton. Chorein (VPS13A), a cytoskeleton related protein whose defects had been associated with the presence of cell membrane deformation of circulating erythrocytes was found to be down-regulated in the membrane fraction of erythrocytes obtained from COPD patients. Methemoglobin reductase (CYB5R3) was also found to be underexpressed in these cells, suggesting that COPD patients may be at higher risk for developing methemoglobinemia. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: “Integrated omics— Functional applications to blood and blood therapeutics”.
- Proteomics in Detection and Monitoring Chronic Lung Diseases: The Human Nasal Epithelium as a Molecular ModelPublication . Simões, Tânia; Charro, Nuno; Alexandre, Bruno; Penque, DeborahAsthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are major causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. The current state-of-art diagnosis and management schemes are suboptimal for both diseases as the incidence of asthma has risen by 250% over the last two decades and COPD is estimated to become the third leading cause of death worldwide within the next decade. Additionally, these diseases represent a very important threat to global economies in direct and indirect medical costs and lost working days [1,2]. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways associated with airway hyperresponsiveness that leads to recurrent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and coughing. These episodes are usually associated with widespread, but variable, airflow obstruction within the lung [1]. Chronic airflow obstruction is also characteristic of COPD but, in contrast to asthma, is not fully reversible, even under the action of bronchodilators, and is usually progressive. A combination of small airway disease -obstructive bronchiolitis - and parenchymal destruction - emphysema, leads to COPD clinical manifestation [2]. A number of factors influence a person’s risk of developing these lung diseases, which include host factors, primarily genetic, and environmental factors, such as allergens and tobacco smoke in asthma and COPD, respectively
- Proteomics of Red Blood Cells from Patients with Obstructive Sleep ApneaPublication . Feliciano, Amelia; Bozanic, Vesna; Torres, Vukosava Milic; Matthiesen, Rune; Carvalho, Ana S.; Almeida, Andreia; Alexandre, Bruno; Vaz, Fátima; Malhotra, Atul; Pinto, Paula; Bárbara, Cristina; Penque, DeborahObstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common public health concern causing metabolic and cardiovascular consequences. Although OSA is a systemic disease, the molecular mechanisms and specific genes/proteins associated with such processes remain poorly defined.To identify dysregulated proteins that could be useful as candidate biomarkers of diagnosis/prognosis of OSA., is the aim of this study
- Tobacco smoke occupational exposure: biomarkers of biological damagePublication . Simões, Tânia; Torres, Vukosava; Pacheco, Solange; Louro, Henriqueta; Silva, Maria Joao; Charro, Nuno; Alexandre, Bruno; Vaz, Fatima; Penque, DeborahHigh concentration of toxic substances emanated from tobacco smoke in entertainment places such as restaurants, bars and nightclubs may compromise indoor air quality (IAQ) generating environments of likelihood health risk. Their employees, particularly those exposed to second-hand smoke, are at increased risk for developing chronic respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and lung cancer. Objectives In this work, we aimed at evaluating relationships between occupational ETS exposure, biological damage (DNA or proteome alterations) and putative respiratory dysfunctions.