Ana Abrantes

• , Nuclear Medicine Technologist, Master in Cell Biology
• Professor at University of Coimbra

Background/Objectives: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represent major primary liver cancers, affecting one of the most vital organs in the human body. T regulatory (Treg) cells play an important role in liver cancers through the immunosuppression of antitumor immune responses. The current study focuses on the characteri...

Background: More than 50% of patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) will develop liver metastases (CRCLM), which is the main cause of death for more than 60% of these patients. The aim of this study was to correlate the clinical and pathological characteristics of the primary CRC and CRCLM, with emphasis in predicting the histological grow...

The effect of anti-algics on tumor progression and the overall survival of patients is controversial and remains unclear. Herein, we disclose the in vitro effects of the local anesthetics lidocaine, ropivacaine, and levobupivacaine on breast (MCF7), prostate (PC3, LNCaP), and bladder (TCCSUP, HT1376) cancer cell lines, both as monotherapy and in co...

In recent years, the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has suffered a variety of alterations. Chemotherapy (CTX), immunotherapy (IT) and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have shown remarkable results. However, not all patients with NSCLC respond to these drug treatments or receive durable benefits. In this framework, metabolo...

Retinoblastoma (RB) is the most common ocular neoplasm in children, whose development depends on two mutational events that occur in both alleles of the retinoblastoma susceptibility gene (RB1). Regarding the nature of these mutational events, RB can be classified as hereditary if the first event is a germline mutation and the second one is a somat...

In recent years, scientific understanding of the changes radiation makes to the various tissues of the body has vastly increased. Identification of biological markers of radiation exposure and response has become a wide field with an increasing interest across the radiation research community. This chapter introduces the concepts of individual radi...

Various exogeneous and endogenous factors constantly cause damages in the biomolecules within a cell. For example, per day, 10,000–100,000 molecular lesions occur in DNA per cell. The molecule modifications that are formed disturb the structure and function of the affected molecules. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the damages to biomol...

Radiation biology is the study of the effects of ionizing radiation on biological tissues and living organisms. It combines radiation physics and biology. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the terminology and basic concepts of radiobiology to create a better understanding of the ionizing radiation interactions with a living organism. This...

This chapter describes situations where individuals may be potentially exposed to ionizing radiation in accidental, occupational, or public exposures excluding those from clinical radiotherapy. Each exposure type can have very specific characteristics ranging in radiation quality, dose, dose rate, length of exposures, and proportion of the body acu...

Aim/Introduction: Posterior tooth restorations are a sensitive technique that depends on the type of adhesive systems and composite resins used. There are some recent resins that intend to reduce the sensitivity of the technique either by using larger increments with less polymerization shrinkage (bulk "ll resins) or by direct adhesion to the tooth...

Doxorubicin (Dox) is a chemotherapeutic agent widely used in the clinic, whose side effects include cardiotoxicity, associated with decreased antioxidant defenses and increased oxidative stress. The association of Dox with natural antioxidants can extend its use if not interfering with its pharmacological potential. In this study, we aimed to under...

Background: Microorganisms and their by-products are responsible for establishing pulpal and periapical diseases. Healing is compromised in patients under bisphosphonate therapy, and the presence of periapical infections can potentially lead to the development of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ). This work aimed to evaluate if bi...

(1) Background: Coronal microleakage can lead to endodontic treatment failure. This study aimed to compare the sealing ability of different temporary restorative materials used during endodontic treatment. (2) Methods: Eighty sheep incisors were collected, uniformized in length, and access cavities were performed, except for in the negative control...

This study aimed to evaluate and compare the microleakage of composite resin restorations under a total-etch adhesive system applied with two different techniques, with and without cure. Cavities were made on the buccal surface of twenty-six intact teeth and subsequently restored with bulk-fill flow composite resin (SDR®® flow+) and conventional re...

Cancer is considered a disease of aging as the incidence of most cancers increases dramatically with age. In fact, more than half of cancers occur in individuals older than 70. The US National Cancer Institute’s surveillance epidemiology and end results database refer that 43% of men and 38% of women will develop invasive cancer throughout life, an...

Hybrid bioactive composite resins combine the benefits of glass ionomer cements with composite resins. Its self-adhesiveness is achieved through functional polyacrylic acids and carboxylic groups, hybridizing the smear layer and establishing ionic interactions between calcium and dentin. These materials are defined as having good aesthetics, moistu...

Background: Obturation represents a critical step in endodontic treatment, which relies on a core material and a sealer. This study aims to evaluate the sealing ability and bond strength to the root canal walls of an epoxy resin-based sealer (AH-Plus®, Dentsply Sirona, Johnson City, TN, USA) and a bioceramic sealer (GuttaFlow Bioseal®, Coltène/Whal...

Cell-based assays, conducted on monolayer (2D) cultured cells, are an unquestionably valuable tool for biomedical research. However, three-dimensional (3D) cell culture models have gained relevance over the last few years due to the advantages of better mimicking the microenvironment and tissue microarchitecture in vivo. Recent magnetic-based 3D (m...

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer. Risk factors for HCC include hepatitis C (HCV) and B (HBV) virus infection, alcoholic cirrhosis and genetic alterations that can affect several cellular pathways. Objective This study purposed to analyze the gene and serum protein expression of vascular endothelial...

Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) syndrome is a condition in which individuals have an increased risk of developing different types of cancer when compared to the general population. BRCA1 repair associated (BRCA1) and BRCA2 repair associated (BRCA2) genes are tumor suppressor genes that play a crucial role in cell, by repairing DNA damag...

Introduction: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is the second most common type of primary liver cancer. Several factors, such as epigenetic changes in promoter genes, gene expression, and microRNAs (miR), can contribute to genomic instability in cancer. This study aimed at evaluating the expression of VEGF, miRs 145-3p, and 101-3p in patients with CCA and...

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common types of cancer and the second leading cause of death in women. Local anaesthetics (LAs) and opioids have been shown to influence cancer progression and metastasis formation in several pre-clinical studies. However, their effects do not seem to promote consensus. A systematic review was conducted using t...

Objective: To investigate the association between root canal treatment outcome, diabetes mellitus, and alterations of the angiogenic process. Methodology: A retrospective observational study was conducted in healthy (control group, CG) and diabetic (type II diabetes mellitus group, DG) patients after root canal treatment. The follow-up appointments...

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the sealing ability of two calcium silicate-based sealers (TotalFill BC RRM Fast Set Putty and White ProRoot MTA) when used as apical plugs in immature teeth through nuclear medicine. Single-rooted extracted teeth (n = 34) had their crowns and root tip sectioned to obtain 14 mm long root segments to...

Lung cancer continues to be a significant burden worldwide and remains the leading cause of cancer-associated mortality. Two considerable challenges posed by this disease are the diagnosis of 61% of patients in advanced stages and the reduced five-year survival rate of around 4%. Noninvasively collected samples are gaining significant interest as n...

Oxidative stress is involved in the metabolic dysregulation of type 2 diabetes (DM2). Acrocomia aculeata (Aa) fruit pulp has been described for the treatment of several diseases, and recently we have proved that its leaves have phenolic compounds with a marked antioxidant effect. We aimed to assess whether they can improve metabolic, redox and vasc...

Steroidal compounds were proven to be efficient drugs against several types of cancer. Oximes are also chemical structures frequently associated with anticancer activity. The main goal of this work was to combine the two referred structures by synthesizing steroidal oximes and evaluating them in several cancer cell lines. Compounds (17E)-5α-androst...

Biomaterials contact directly or indirectly with the human tissues, making it important to evaluate its cytotoxicity. This evaluation can be performed by several methods, but a high discrepancy exists between the approaches used, compromising the reproducibility and the comparison among the obtained results. In this paper, we propose a protocol to...

A new promising steroid derivative of Exemestane (Exe), the drug used for the treatment of estrogen-dependent breast cancer, was synthesized and evaluated against a set of human cancer cell lines. The new compound (Oxymestane-D1, Oxy) was tested comparatively with Exe against colon (C2BBe1, WiDr), liver (HepG2, HuH-7), lung (A549, H1299) and prosta...

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an inflammatory process of the pancreas with variable involvement of the pancreatic and peripancreatic tissues and remote organ systems. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the inflammatory biomarkers, oxidative stress (OS), and plasma metabolome of patients with different degrees of biliary AP severity to improve...

Aim To investigate the association between root canal treatment outcome, diabetes mellitus, and alterations of the angiogenic process. Methodology A retrospective observational study was conducted in healthy (control group, CG) and diabetic (type II diabetes mellitus group, DG) patients after root canal treatment. The follow‐up appointments were p...

The need for effective and safe therapies for cancer is growing as aging is modifying its epidemiology. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) has gained attention as a potential anti-tumor therapy. CAP is a gas with enough energy to ionize a significant fraction of its constituent particles, forming equal numbers of positive ions and electrons. Timely-reso...

Background: Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) is associated with a very unfavorable prognosis. At this advanced stage of the disease, there are several therapeutic strategies approved in recent times, being one of them Radium-223 dichloride (Radium-223). However, its mechanisms of action and the process that conducts to cell...

Aims: Cholangiocarcinoma (CC) is a rare tumour arising from the biliary tract epithelium. The aim of this study was to perform a genomic characterisation of CC tumours and to implement a model to differentiate extrahepatic (ECC) and intrahepatic (ICC) cholangiocarcinoma. Methods: DNA extracted from tumour samples of 23 patients with CC, namely 1...

Bladder cancer (BC) is the most common cancer of the urinary tract and despite all innovations, remains a major challenge due to high morbidity and mortality. Genomic and epigenetic analyses allowed the discovery of new genes and pathways involved in the pathogenesis and regulation of BC. However, the effect on mortality has been modest and the dev...

Objectives: To evaluate the expression of miR-126-3p and its potential as a biomarker for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and to better understand the prognosis, comorbidities, and lifestyle habits associated with the disease. Methods: Fifty-nine individuals were distributed into either the study group (38 CCA patients) or the control group (21 individ...

Simple Summary Bladder cancer has a high incidence and mortality. Besides this, currently available therapies for this type of cancer have low efficacy and show considerable adverse effects, urging the need of new therapeutic approaches. Cold Atmospheric Plasma treatment presents itself as a promising alternative, having demonstrated antitumor effe...

(1) Aim: This study aims to analyze the in vitro infiltration of a silicate root canal sealer into dentinal tubules after using different endodontic irrigating solutions. (2) Methods: Twenty-nine teeth with single roots were separated into three groups according to the final irrigation protocol: G1 n = 10) = 17% EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic aci...

The increasing incidence of skin cancer (SC) is a global health concern. The commonly reported side effects and resistance mechanisms have imposed the pursuit for new therapeutic alternatives. Moreover, additional preventive strategies should be adopted to strengthen prevention and reduce the rising number of newly SC cases. This review provides re...

Methylglyoxal was shown to impair adipose tissue capillarization and insulin sensitivity in obese models. We hypothesized that glyoxalase-1 (GLO-1) activity could be diminished in the adipose tissue of type 2 diabetic obese patients. Moreover, we assessed whether such activity could be increased by GLP-1-based therapies in order to improve adipose...

Cancer cells alter their metabolism by switching from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), regardless of oxygen availability. Metabolism may be a molecular target in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), where mutations in metabolic genes have been described. This study evaluated glycolysis and OXPHOS as therapeutic targets. The sensitivity to...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major health burden and may arise as a complication of solid organ transplantation. Our study aimed to assess the incidence of the CRC in kidney and liver transplanted patients at a tertiary and reference center and to describe their clinical and pathological features. Twelve patients, 10 men and two women, with a mean...

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an inflammatory disorder of the pancreas that, when classified as severe, is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Promptly identifying the severity of AP is of extreme importance for improving clinical outcomes. The aim of this study was to compare the prognostic value of serological biomarkers, ratios, and multi...

Aim of the study: To systematically review the evidence regarding the association between portal venous pressure (PVP) after hepatectomy and posthepatectomy liver failure (PLHF) or other postsurgical outcomes. Materials and methods: We searched PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science for studies assessing post-hepatectomy PVP (or its variation) and repor...

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide and the third cause of cancer-related death. Current clinical/pathological criteria contribute to risk stratification, but are far from the desired on individualized medicine. Recently, HCC classifications have been published based on immunohistochemical and morph...

Bisphosphonate-associated osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ), a post-surgical non-healing wound condition, is one of the most common side effects in patients treated with nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates. Its physiopathology has been related with suppression of bone turnover, of soft tissue healing and infection. Biphasic calcium phosphates (BCP)...

Background: Chronic inflammation is involved in the initiation and progression of various cancers, including liver cancer. The current study focuses on the characterization of the peripheral immune response in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) patients, before and after surgical procedure, in order to assess the effect of...

Tooth whitening procedures are increasing; however, side effects can occur, such as damage to pulp cells, by the whitening products. This study aims to assess the cellular effects promoted by a whitening product, namely, the oxidative stress fostered by the active agent hydrogen peroxide, with and without photoactivation. Additionally, if cellular...

Colorectal cancer is a worldwide health burden, with high incidence and mortality, especially in the advanced stages of the disease. Preclinical models are very important and valuable to discover and validate early and specific biomarkers as well as new therapeutic targets. In order to accomplish that, the animal models must replicate the clinical...

Hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma are the most common primary malignant liver tumors. Since the liver plays a key role in lipid metabolism, the study of serum phospholipid (PL) profiles may provide a better understanding of alterations in hepatic lipid metabolism. In this study, we used a high‐resolution HILIC‐LC–MS lipidomic approach...

Platinum metal complexes are the most common chemotherapeutics currently used in cancer treatment. However, the frequent adverse effects, as well as acquired resistance by tumor cells, urge the development of effective alternatives. In the recent past, copper complexes with Schiff base ligands have emerged as good alternatives, showing interesting...

Carcinogenesis is a complex multistep process, characterized by changes at different levels, both genetic and epigenetic, which alter cell metabolism. Positron emission tomography (PET) is a very sensitive image modality that allows to evaluate oncometabolism. PET functionalities are immense, since by labelling a molecule that specifically interven...

Cholangiocarcinoma (CC) is an aggressive liver tumor with limited therapeutic options. Natrium‑iodide symporter (NIS) mediates the uptake of iodine by the thyroid, representing a key component in metabolic radiotherapy using iodine‑131 (131I) for the treatment of thyroid cancer. NIS expression is increased in CC, providing the opportunity for a nov...

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a severe inflammation of the pancreas presented with sudden onset and severe abdominal pain with a high morbidity and mortality rate, if accompanied by severe local and systemic complications. Numerous studies have been published about the pathogenesis of AP; however, the precise mechanism behind this pathology remains un...

When exposure of the pulp to external environment occurs, reparative dentinogenesis can be induced by direct pulp capping to maintain pulp tissue vitality and function. These clinical situations require the use of materials that induce dentin repair and, subsequently, formation of a mineralized tissue. Objective: This work aims to assess the effe...

Surface functionalisations substantially influence the performance of drug delivery vehicles by improving their biocompatibility, selectivity and circulation in bloodstream. Herein, we present the study of in vitro and in vivo behaviour of a highly potent cytostatic alkaloid ellipticine (Elli) encapsulated in internal cavity of ferritin (FRT)-based...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of an enzymatic mouthwash and of a chlorhexidine mouthwash on human gingival fibroblasts. The metabolic activity of the fibroblasts exposed to each mouthwash was assessed by the MTT assay and the protein content was assessed by the SRB assay. The flow cytometry was used to evaluate the cel...

(1) Background: Recently, tricalcium silicate cements, such as Biodentine™, have emerged. This biomaterial has a calcium hydroxide base and characteristics like mineral aggregate trioxide cements, but has tightening times that are substantially more suitable for their application and other clinical advantages. (2) Methods: A retrospective clinical...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) represent the most common primary liver malignancies whose outcome is influenced by the immune response. In the present study, we evaluated the tumor-infiltrating leukocyte (TIL) populations in 21 HCC patients and 8 CCA patients by flow cytometry immediately after the surgical procedure. M...

Synthesis, cancer, steroids

Introduction: Excessive portal venous pressure in the liver remnant is an independent factor in the occurrence of posthepatectomy liver failure and small-for-size syndrome. The baseline portal pressure prior to hepatectomy was not considered previously. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of portal pressure change during hepatectomy on t...

Objectives To compare the treatments used to treat dentin hypersensitivity (DH), based on its efficacy and effect duration. Methods Medline/PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and ClinicalTrials were searched for articles published between January 1st, 2008 and November 14th, 2018, in English, Portuguese or Spanish, reporting clinical trials, comple...

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a severe disease associated with high morbidity and mortality. Clinical studies can provide some data concerning the etiology, pathophysiology, and outcomes of this disease. However, the study of early events and new targeted therapies cannot be performed on humans due to ethical reasons. Experimental murine models can be...

(1) Background: Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) is one of the most often seen side effects in patients treated with nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates (BPs), a post-surgical non-healing wound condition. Since calcium phosphate (CP) compounds are able to adsorb zoledronate (ZOL) when used as a drug delivery vehicle, we aimed...

Background Cancer cells alter their metabolism to sustain high levels of growth and proliferation. One of the most common alterations is the metabolic shift of cancer cells from oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to glycolysis, regardless of oxygen presence (aerobic glycolysis), resulting in lower ATP production. This alteration is associated with...