Between April 2003 and May 2009 phlebotomine sandflies were collected in Parque do Sabiá complex, Uberlândia municipality, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, using CDC and Shannon traps. The objective was to associate the sandfly species captured to the risk of the transmission of leishmaniasis in the municipality. The 126 captured specimens belonging to six species of phlebotomine, among which Lutzom...

INTRODUCTION: Viral vectors are commonly used in ex vivo approaches for stem cell therapy modalities; however, the potential for insertional mutagenesis by random DNA integration limits the application of retro-and lenti-viral vectors for stem cell therapy in vivo. Recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors exist as extrachromosomal episomes rather than as DNA integrated genomes, which e...

Homeobox (HOX) genes, including HOXA13, are involved in human cancer. We found that HOXA13 expression was associated with glioma grade and prognosis. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that most of the HOXA13-associated genes were enriched in cancer-related signaling pathways and mainly involved in the regulation of transcription. We transfected four glioma cell lines with Lenti-si HOXA13. HOXA13...

In the present study, some morphological structures of antennae, maxillary palps and caudal setae of fourth instar larvae of laboratory-reared phlebotomine sand flies (Lutzomyia longipalpis, L. migonei, L. evandroi, L. lenti, L. sericea, L. whitmani and L. intermedia) of the State of Ceará, Brazil, were examined under scanning electron microscopy. The antennal structures exhibited considerable ...

Stem cell-based tissue engineering shows promise for bone regeneration and requires artificial microenvironments to enhance the survival, proliferation and differentiation of the seeded cells. Silk fibroin, as a natural protein polymer, has unique properties for tissue regeneration. The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of porous silk scaffolds on rat bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) ...

The occurrence of an outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis associated with Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis in the municipality of Bela Vista, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, and the absence of information on its vectors in this area led the authors to undertake captures of phlebotomine sand flies, using Shannon traps and automatic CDC light traps, in domiciles, forested areas and animal ...

Applications of the CRISPR-Cas9 system to edit the genome have widely expanded to include DNA gene knock-out, deletions, chromosomal rearrangements, RNA editing and genome-wide screenings. Here we show the application of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to edit the mouse and human immunoglobulin (Ig) genes. By delivering Cas9 and guide-RNA (gRNA) with retro- or lenti-virus to IgM(+) mouse B cells and hyb...

Lentiviruses (LV) are nononcogenic viruses, belonging to the Lentivirinae subfamily. The name comes from the Latin word “lenti”, meaning “slow”. According to the definition of B. Sigurdsson, they are causing infections in a limited number of hosts with a long incubation period (months and years) and progressive course, accompanied by damage in definite organs/tissues and a lethal outcome (Sigur...

The municipality of Cantagalo is an area with sustained transmission of American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ACL). Monthly sand fly collections were performed for three years (June 2012 - May 2015) using a CDC light trap. A total of 3,310 specimens belonging to 12 species were trapped: Nyssomyia intermedia, Nyssomyia whitmani, Migonemyia migonei, Evandromyia lenti, Evandromyia cortelezzii, Micropy...

Nonhuman primates host a plethora of potentially zoonotic microbes, with simian retroviruses receiving heightened attention due to their roles in the origins of human immunodeficiency viruses type 1 (HIV-1) and HIV-2. However, incomplete taxonomic and geographic sampling of potential hosts, especially the African colobines, has left the full range of primate retrovirus diversity unexplored. Blo...