Background Many conventional drugs exhibit poor pharmacokinetics, limited bioavailability and a high toxicity, all of which restrain their use. To overcome these issues and improve the therapeutic indexes of the drug, the emergent fields of nanotechnology and nanomedicine have made significant progress in detection, diagnosis and treatment of several diseases at clinical level (Li et al. 2014; Yingchoncharoen et al. 2016; Signorell et al. 2018). In fact, thanks to nanoparticles and liposomes, it has been possible to decrease the toxicity and improve the pharmacokinetics parameters, such as distribution, increased circulation time, targeted controlled release, increased intracellular concentration, and

These preliminary results suggest the importance of evaluating further toxicological biomarkers in these populations.

TLR4 coding SNPs Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile might be used as genetic susceptibility alleles for POAG in Mexican population. Our findings support the role of TLR4 in the pathophysiology of glaucoma.

We have identified intronic TLR4 SNPs as genetic susceptibility alleles for POAG in a Mexican population. Our findings support the association of the TLR4 gene with POAG.

Substantial efforts have been devoted to developing and applying biomarkers for ecological risk assessment. Bivalve mollusks, such as mussels and oysters, are commonly used in environmental monitoring programs because of their wide geographical distribution, great sensitivity to environmental pollutants, and ability to accumulate anthropogenically derived chemicals at a high rate. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and metallothionein (MT's) content are representative specific biomarkers that indicate the presence of anticholinesterasic compounds (like organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides) and metals, respectively. The aim of this study was to evaluate AChE activity and MT's content in Crassostrea corteziensis from Boca de Camichín estuary. The results obtained here showed that AChE activity was 65% lower in oysters from Boca de Camichín than in control organisms. In contrast, MT's content in collected organisms was not statistically different from that in control organisms. AChE activity and MT's content in oysters could be used as early biomarkers of effects and exposure to pesticides and heavy metals, respectively, in aquatic environments.

Tuberculosis (TB) is the most important infectious disease worldwide, based on the number of new cases and deaths reported by the World Health Organization. Several vaccine candidates against TB have been characterized at the preclinical and clinical levels. The BCGΔBCG1419c vaccine candidate, which lacks the BCG1419c gene that encodes for a c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase, provides improved efficacy against chronic TB, reactivation from latent-like infection, and against TB in the presence of type 2 diabetes in murine models. We previously reported that compared to wild type BCG, BCGΔBCG1419c changed several proteins. Here, using a label-free proteomic approach, we confirmed that a novel, second-generation version of BCGΔBCG1419c maintains changes in antigenic proteins already reported, including differences in secreted proteins, and also found that it modifies its production of proteins involved in redox and nitrogen/protein metabolism, compared with wild type BCG. This work contributes to the proteomic characterization of a novel vaccine candidate that is effective against chronic TB.

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