LABORATORY OF LIPIDS AND SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION
Principal Investigator
- Dr. Melina V. Mateos
Research lines
Emerging Therapeutic Targets in Inflammatory Ocular Diseases: Protective Effects of Phospholipase D Pathway Inhibition
Inflammation and oxidative stress are key factors in the pathophysiology of several ocular and retinal degenerative diseases that can lead to vision loss, including uveitis, dry eye disease, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. Our overarching goal is to investigate novel molecular mechanisms that may modulate the inflammatory processes underlying these diseases.
Over the past 13 years, our laboratory has characterized the role of the phospholipase D (PLD) pathway, which generates lipid mediators, in the inflammatory response of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells subjected to in vitro injury models induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and high glucose (HG) concentrations.
Pharmacological inhibition of the PLD pathway not only prevented the inflammatory response and oxidative stress induced by both types of injury, but also prevented the loss of cellular functionality and cell death in RPE cells. Given that RPE cells are essential for maintaining retinal integrity and visual function, our findings identify the PLD pathway as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of inflammatory retinal diseases.
Currently, we are investigating the effects of PLD inhibitors in an in vivo model of uveitis, as well as in an ex vivo model of neurodegeneration using explants of porcine neural retinas.
Researchers / Fellows
- Dr. Vicente Bermúdez
- Dr. Paula E. Tenconi
- Biochem. María Sol Echevarría
Collaborators
- Dr. Gabriela A. Salvador (INIBIBB-UNS-CONICET)
- Dr. Nicolás Bazan (Neuroscience Center of Excellence, USA).
- Dr. Chu Wai Kit (The Chinese Universtity of Hong Kong, China)
- Dr. Iván Fernández Bueno (Universidad de Valladolid, España)
Selected publications
- Echevarría, MS; Tenconi, PE; Bermúdez, V; Calandria, JM; Bazán, NG, Mateos, MV (2026). Shielding retinal pigment epithelium cells from high glucose-induced oxidative stress: the protective effect of Phospholipase D (PLD) pathway inhibition. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta- Molecular Cell Research. 1873, 120121. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamcr.2026.120121
- Bermúdez V; Tenconi PE; Echevarría MS; Asatrian A; Calandria JM; Giusto NM; Bazan NG & Mateos MV (2022). Targeting Phospholipase D Pharmacologically Prevents Phagocytic Function Loss of Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells Ex-posed to High Glucose Levels. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 23, 11823. doi: 10.3390/ijms231911823
- Bermúdez, V; Tenconi, PE; Giusto, NM & Mateos, MV (2022). Canonical phospholipase D isoforms in visual function and ocular response to stress. Exp. Eye Res. 217-108976. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2022.108976
- Asatryan, A; Calandria, JM; Kautzmann, MA; Jun, B; Gordon, WC; Do, K; Bhattacharjee, S; Pham, TL; Bermúdez, V; Mateos, MV; Heap, J & Bazan, NG (2022). New Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cell Model to Unravel Neuroprotection Sensors of Neurodegeneration in Retinal Disease. Front. Neurosc. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.926629
- Tenconi PE, Bermúdez V, Oresti GM, Giusto NM, Salvador GA & Mateos MV (2019). High glucose-induced phospholipase D activity in retinal pigment epithelium cells: insights into the molecular mechanisms of diabetic retinopathy. Exp. Eye Res. 184, 243-257. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2019.04.028
- Bermúdez V, Tenconi PE, Giusto NM & Mateos MV (2019). Lipopolysaccharide-induced autophagy mediates retinal pigment epithelium cells survival. Modulation by the phospholipase D pathway. Front. Cell. Neurosc. 13, art. 154. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2019.00154
- Tenconi PE, Giusto, NM, Salvador, GA & Mateos MV (2016). Phospholipase D1 modulates protein kinase C-epsilon in retinal pigment epithelium cells during inflammatory response. Int. J. Biochem. Cell Biol. 81, 67-75. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2016.10.015
- Mateos MV, Kamerbeek CB, Giusto NM & Salvador GA (2014). The phospholipase D pathway mediates the inflammatory response of the retinal pigment epithelium. Int. J. Biochem. Cell Biol. 55, 119-128. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2014.08.016
Contact:
DRA. MELINA V. MATEOS
mvmateos@criba.edu.ar
+ 54 291 4037195