Saliva is a key factor that contributes to the high efficiency of wound healing in the oral mucosa. This is not only attributed to physical cues but also to the presence of specific peptides in the saliva, such as histatins. Histatin‐1 is a 38 aa antimicrobial peptide, highly enriched in human saliva, which has been previously reported to promote the migration of oral keratinocytes and fibroblasts in vitro . However, the participation of histatin‐1 in other crucial events required for wound healing, such as angiogenesis, is unknown. Here we demonstrate that histatin‐1 promotes angiogenesis, as shown in vivo , using the chick chorioallantoic membrane model, and by an in vitro tube formation assay, using both human primary cultured endothelial cells (HUVECs) and the EA.hy926 cell line. Specifically, histatin‐1 promoted endothelial cell adhesion and spreading onto fibronectin, as well as endothelial cell migration in the wound closure and Boyden chamber assays. These actions required the activation of the Ras and Rab interactor 2 (RIN2)/Rab5/Rac1 signaling axis, as histatin‐1 increased the recruitment of RIN2, a Rab5–guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) to early endosomes, leading to sequential Rab5/Rac1 activation. Accordingly, interfering with either Rab5 or Rac1 activities prevented histatin‐1‐dependent endothelial cell migration. Finally, by immunodepletion assays, we showed that salivary histatin‐1 is required for the promigratory effects of saliva on endothelial cells. In conclusion, we report that salivary histatin‐1 is a novel proangiogenic factor that may contribute to oral wound healing.—Torres, P., Díaz, J., Arce, M., Silva, P., Mendoza, P., Lois, P., Molina‐Berrios, A., Owen, G. I., Palma, V., Torres, V. A. The salivary peptide histatin‐1 promotes endothelial cell adhesion, migration, and angiogenesis. FASEB J. 31, 4946–4958 (2017). www.fasebj.org

Chagas' disease, produced by Trypanosoma cruzi, affects more than 8 million people, producing approximately 10,000 deaths each year in Latin America. Migration of people from endemic regions to developed countries has expanded the risk of infection, transforming this disease into a globally emerging problem. PGE₂ and other eicosanoids contribute to cardiac functional deficits after infection with T. cruzi. Thus, the inhibition of host cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme emerges as a potential therapeutic target. In vivo studies about the effect of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) upon T. cruzi infection are controversial, and always report the effect of ASA at a single dose. Therefore, we aimed to analyze the effect of ASA at different doses in an in vivo model of infection and correlate it with the production of arachidonic acid metabolites. ASA decreased mortality, parasitemia, and heart damage in T. cruzi (Dm28c) infected mice, at the low doses of 25 and 50 mg/Kg. However, this effect disappeared when the high ASA doses of 75 and 100 mg/Kg were used. We explored whether this observation was related to the metabolic shift toward the production of 5-lipoxygenase derivatives, and although we did not observe an increase in LTB₄ production in infected RAW cells and mice infected, we did find an increase in 15-epi-LXA₄ (an ASA-triggered lipoxin). We also found high levels of 15-epi-LXA₄ in T. cruzi infected mice treated with the low doses of ASA, while the high ASA doses decreased 15-epi-LXA₄ levels. Importantly, 15-epi-LXA₄ prevented parasitemia, mortality, and cardiac changes in vivo and restored the protective role in the treatment with a high dose of ASA. This is the first report showing the production of ASA-triggered lipoxins in T. cruzi infected mice, which demonstrates the role of this lipid as an anti-inflammatory molecule in the acute phase of the disease. Chagas' disease is an infection produced by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. This pathology is endemic in Latin America and has become a public health issue in some non-endemic countries like the USA, Spain and Australia. There is no curative treatment against Chagas' disease. NSAIDs, like aspirin, have been assayed as drugs with therapeutic potential in Chagas' disease, but the studies about this issue show contradictory results; also, the mechanism involved in aspirin effect is not yet clear. In this study, we explore a broad range of doses the protective role of aspirin. We found that aspirin has a therapeutic effect at low doses, an effect that disappears when doses are increased. This phenomenon correlates with the presence of 15-epi-LXA₄, a molecule known as an “aspirin-triggered lipoxin,” which increases at low doses of aspirin, and decreases when aspirin dose is increased. 15-epi-LXA₄ has been related with the anti-inflammatory effect of aspirin; in this setting, we found that 15-epi-LXA₄ is able to decrease the cardiac inflammation and others parameters related with Chagas' disease. Finally, we present the first study that shows that the protective effect of aspirin on Chagas' disease could be mediated by the synthesis of 15-epi-LXA₄.

Background: Recurrence and resistance of Candida spp. infections is associated with the ability of these microorganisms to present several virulence patterns such as morphogenesis, adhesion, and biofilm formation. In the search for agents with antivirulence activity, essential oils could represent a strategy to act against biofilms and to potentiate antifungal drugs. Objective: To evaluate the antivirulence effect of Origanum vulgare L. essential oil (O-EO) against Candida spp. and to potentiate the effect of fluconazole and nystatin. Methods: The effect of O-EO was evaluated on ATCC reference strains of C. albicans and non-albicans Candida species. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined through broth microdilution assay. Adhesion to microplates was determined by crystal violet (CV) assay. An adapted scratch assay in 24-well was used to determine the effect of essential oil on biofilms proliferation. Viability of biofilms was evaluated by MTT reduction assay and through a checkerboard assay we determined if O-EO could act synergistically with fluconazole and nystatin. Results: MIC for C. albicans ATCC-90029 and ATCC-10231 was 0.01 mg/L and 0.97 mg/L, respectively. For non-albicans Candida strains MIC values were 2.6 mg/L for C. dubliniensis ATCC-CD36 and 5.3 mg/L for C. krusei ATCC-6258. By using these concentrations, O-EO inhibited morphogenesis, adhesion, and proliferation at least by 50% for the strains assayed. In formed biofilms O-EO decreased viability in ATCC 90029 and ATCC 10231 strains (IC50 7.4 and 2.8 mg/L respectively). Finally, we show that O-EO interacted synergistically with fluconazole and nystatin. Conclusions: This study demonstrate that O-EO could be considered to improve the antifungal treatment against Candida spp.

Amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) is a group of enamel development disorders that alter the structure and chemical composition of the tissue. There is great variability in the clinical presentation; according to Witkop, AI can be categorized into 14 subtypes, which makes its diagnosis extremely complex.