Luis Squiquera

• MD
• Chief Medical Officer at Farmacon Global

Currently, no rabies virus-specific antiviral drugs are available. Ranpirnase has strong antitumor and antiviral properties associated with its ribonuclease activity. TMR-001, a proprietary bulk drug substance solution of ranpirnase, was evaluated against rabies virus in three cell types: mouse neuroblastoma, BSR (baby hamster kidney cells), and ba...

Ranpirnase (RNP) is a low molecular weight type III endoribonuclease, which demonstrates broad antiviral and antitumor properties. We sought to characterize the antiviral activity of RNP against HIV-1 and to determine if RNP modulates local inflammatory changes associated with HIV infection in the colorectal explant model. Colorectal explants were...

Background: Human papillomaviruses (HPV), the causative agent of anogenital warts, are the most prevalent sexually transmitted infectious agents, and wart treatment poses a persistent challenge. We assessed the safety and efficacy of treating HPV with ranpirnase, an endoribonuclease from the Northern Leopard frog that has been used extensively in...

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of HIV and other STIs, among MSM from Buenos Aires (2007-2009). Responding Driven Sampling was used for recruitment of MSM. Participants completed a structured web-based survey and provided biological samples. A total of 496 MSM were studied for HIV, HBV, HCV, and T. pallidum infections. Chlamydi...

Due to the scarce data on the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among male-to-female trans-sex workers (TSW) and male sex workers (MSW) in Argentina, the present study aimed to estimate the incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and the prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and Treponema p...

Background Recently dandruff has been associated with a local increment in the number of Pityrosporum yeasts. Due to this fact, several anti-dandruff shampoos containing antifungals have been marketed. Objective We studied the sensitivity of Pityrosporum ovale (PO) to three different groups of antimycotics (ketoconazole, Zn pyrithione, and ciclopir...

The infection by human papillomavirus is one of the most frequent sexually transmitted diseases. Among more than 100 types of HPV described, several are capable of inducing malignant transformation in host cells. This work intend to review the different therapeutic modalities using an evidence based medicine strategy.

A group of patients with Sjögren's Syndrome has been analysed in the present study in order to evaluate the different techniques used for the detection of anti Ro/SS-A of 52 and 60 kDa autoantibodies. The eva- luated techniques were: double immunodiffusion performed in agarose gels using as antigen human spleen extract; Western Blot (WB) and enzyme...

Twenty patients were studied with primary Sjögren's Syndrome who met the European criteria for the diagnosis of Sjögren's Syndrome. We evaluated the laboratory and extraglandular manifestations. We determined EBV (Elisa) in solid phase IgG, EA-Dp 54 early antigen, HIV I-II Elisa, Hepatitis C (HVC) Elisa. We took 18 samples of blood of healthy patie...

Malassezia furfur is a lipophilic yeast that has been related to inflammatory skin conditions such as seborrhoeic dermatitis and psoriasis. We have previously reported that this yeast secretes enzymes capable of metabolizing complex lipids. This lipolytic system is critical for M. furfur growth, since the yeast has a strict dependence on an exogeno...

Malassezia furfur is a lipophilic yeast that has been related to inflammatory skin conditions such as seborrhoeic dermatitis and psoriasis. We have previously reported that this yeast secretes enzymes capable of metabolizing complex lipids. This lipolytic system is critical for M. furfur growth, since the yeast has a strict dependence on an exogeno...

We have previously reported the finding of circulating antibodies recognizing two proteins of 100 and 120 kD (PO100 and PO120) from Pityrosporum ovale in patients with psoriasis. These antibodies were specific, since they were not detected in normal sera nor in other diseases linked to P. ovale such as seborrhoeic dermatitis or pityriasis versicolo...

Materials and Methods: The trial was directed to test efficacy of and tolerance to terbinafine in the treatment of dermatophyte infections of the nails for a short period of 12 weeks. The study was designed as an open, nonrandomized, uncontrolled clinical trial. The patients, with a confirmed clinical and mycologic diagnosis of onychomycosis, were...

Variable domains (VH) of all known anti i/I cold agglutinin (CA) heavy chains are codified by the VH4-21 gene. While anti-i CAs are the expression of gene rearrangement without mutations represented by amino acid changes, anti-1 CAs present, among others, a frequent somatic mutation of Gly by Asp at position 31. The hydropathy profile calculated fo...

Enzymes capable of metabolizing lipids are essential for the growth of Malassezia furfur in vitro and in vivo. We designed a series of experiments to characterize the lipolytic system in this yeast. The optimal pH of the lipase system was 7·5. Lipase activity was detected in soluble and insoluble saline cell extracts and in supernatant from the cul...

The aim of this study was to analyse four anti-DNP asymmetrically glycosylated monoclonal IgG3 antibodies (194/2, 194/5, 194/6 and 194/12) before and after carbohydrate manipulation. Microheterogeneity in the composition of the carbohydrate moiety involved in Fab' glycosylation was detected using lectins. Additional O-glycosidic carbohydrate chains...

In order to analyse the humoral immune response to the commensal yeast Pityrosporum ovale, we developed a western immunoblot technique with a salt soluble extract of P. ovale cytoplasm. In the present study, we tested sera from patients with psoriasis (n= 15), seborrhoeic dermatitis (n= 10), pityriasis versicolor (n= 8), and normal controls (n = 10...

The therapeutic efficacy of a preparation containing 2.5% bifonazole was investigated by comparing three different treatment modalities--A, B, and C. Group A used bifonazole only on Days 1, 2 and 3, and the Group C on Days 1, 3 and 5. Of the patients in Group A 56% had a negative mycological examination at the end of the study. The results obtained...

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune disease characterized by subepidermal vesicles and the presence of autoantibodies directed against the epidermal basement membrane zone. Previous studies have identified two protein components of the hemidesmosome, BP180 and BP230, as the primary antigenic targets of BP autoantibodies. We have recently repor...

Autoantibodies present in the sera of patients with bullous pemphigoid (BP) bind to the basement membrane zone of normal human skin and commonly recognize two epidermal proteins, the BP240 and BP180 antigens. Two BP antigen cDNA clones from a lambda gt11 human keratinocyte library have been identified on the basis of reactivity with a BP serum. The...

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is an inherited deficiency of C1 esterase inhibitor (C1 inh). The two types of genetic C1 inh deficiency are type I, which is quantitative, and type II, which is functional. For the purpose of the present study, four HAE patients were selected. None of them had received any androgenic therapy. The group included three ty...

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is an inherited deficiency of the inhibitor of C1 esterase (C1 inh). Two types of genetic C1 inh deficiency have been described, type I: quantitative, and type II: functional. For the purpose of the present study, 4 out of 51 HAE patients were selected. None of them had received any previous androgenic therapy. The group...

The blistering diseases of the skin grouped under the term pemphigus comprise unique organospecific autoimmune disorders in which the epidermis is injured by autoantibodies. The clinical syndromes manifested depend on the specificity of the autoantibodies Present in the patient, i.e., pemphigus vulgaris (PV) autoantibodies produce suprabasilar acan...

Based on epidemiologic data, a current hypothesis states that Fogo selvagem (FS) may be triggered by environmental factors present in endemic areas of Brazil. Because the appearance of new cases is limited to those areas, we wanted to ascertain if the presence of the pemphigus autoantibodies was restricted to the patients. To further delineate the...

The basement membranes are extracellular proteic matrixes involved mainly in cell-substrate interactions. The dermo-epidermal junction (DEJ) is defined as the region formed by the dermal pole of the basal cell layer, the intercellular spaces, the lamina densa or basal lamina and the acellular fibrous components of the papillary dermis. The function...

This article reviews recent concepts of pathogenetic mechanisms in pemphigus. We describe the pathogenic effect of the autoantibodies, the animal model for the disease and the ultrastructural alterations which follow the antibody-antigen interaction. The role of complement and protease systems in development of tissue injury are also discussed.

12 patients (7 males and 5 females) suffering from the common form of HAE were included in the study protocol. All patients were older than 18 years. They were evaluated Cl INH, C4, Clq, Cls, C3, C5, C8, Bf, CH 50% and CIC. For the purpose of the study they were only considered Cl INH, C4, CH 50%, CIs and CIC levels. The rest of the complement comp...

Hereditary angioedema is considered an inherited disorder of the complement system, manifested by repeated crises of angioedema involving the skin, the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. Biopsies of normal skin obtained from 5 patients, diagnosed with hereditary angioedema, were found to be positive for fibrin and in one case also positive fo...

Four patients with hereditary angioedema were studied. All had low values of C4, C1 INH, (CH 50) complement activity and circulating immune complexes. This report takes into account the different aspects that this disease can present, often quite different from the classical description of hereditary angioedema.