Ipatimup

Name: Raquel Almeida

E-mail: ralmeida@ipatimup.pt

Raquel Almeida

Member of

Researcher of Differentiation and cancer

Short CV

Personal data

Name: Raquel Maria da Silva Graça Almeida
Birth date: 4th January 1973
Nationality: Portuguese
Email: ralmeida@ipatimup.pt

Academic degrees

Oct 2000 – PhD in Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto.
Oct 1996 – Master Degree in Oncobiology, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto.
Jun 1994 – Graduation in Biology, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (classification 15/20).

Previous and current scientific and/or professional activities

Since 2005 – Affiliated professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto
Since Jul 2004 – Researcher at Ipatimup
Nov 2000 – Jun 2004 – Post-doctoral fellow at Ipatimup
Nov 1996 – Oct 2000 – PhD student at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Copenhagen, Denmark and Ipatimup
Nov 1994 – Oct 1996 – Master student at Ipatimup and the Faculty of Health Sciences, Copenhagen, Denmark

Supervising experience

Post-docs

Since Jan 2011 - Supervisor of Rita Henriques Pinto de Barros (Co-supervisor – Prof. Gijs van den Brink, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands): “Mouse models of intestinal

Ongoing PhD thesis

Since April 2011 – Supervisor of Ana Adelaide Direito Sadio (Co-supervisor – Ana Paula Pêgo, INEB): “Reverting Gastric Intestinal Metaplasia using siRNAs directed to CDX2”. Programa Doutoral em Educação Médica Avançada Gulbenkian/Champalimaud

Since April 2011 - Co-supervisor of Rita Isabel Morais Pinto (Supervisor - Leonor David, Ipatimup and Medical Faculty of Porto, Porto, Portugal): ""Cancer-associated sialyl-Tn carbohydrate antigen - regulation of its expression by CDX2 homeoprotein and contribution of mucin protein carriers for cancer progression""

Since Jan 2010 - Supervisor of Vânia Raquel Gomes Camilo (Co-supervisor - Markus Gerhard, Technical University of Munich, Germany): ""Sox2 modulation in the establishment of CDX2-dependent intestinal metaplasia of the stomach""

Since Jan 2009 - Supervisor of Bruno Miguel

Highlights

I have been involved in the understanding of the molecular basis of the gastric preneoplastic lesion intestinal metaplasia and intestinal differentiation of gastric carcinomas. We were among the first groups to identify the functional relevance of the transcription factor CDX2 in intestinal metaplasia and we are currently involved in understanding how this protein becomes de novo expressed in the stomach. Transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms have been identified. Understanding this process is not only likely to increase our knowledge on the normal mechanisms of differentiation but also, since metaplasia is a precursor lesion to gastric cancer, it will increase our possibilities of developing early diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Supervisor of

Ana Sadio, External Researcher

Catarina de Oliveira, PhD Student

Ana Luísa Amaral, Fellow

Bruno Pereira, Junior Researcher

Diana Pádua, Fellow

Helena Gouveia, PhD Student

Joana Oliveira, Affiliated Researcher

Luís Póvoas, Master Student (thesis)

Nair Lopes, Visiting Researcher

Patrícia Mesquita, Junior Researcher

Paula Figueira, Master Student (thesis)

Sara Maria Azevedo Ribeirinho Soares, Master Student (thesis)

PI (running)

"Diabetes & obesity at the crossroads between Oncological and Cardiovascular diseases – a system analysis NETwork towards precision medicine (DOCnet)"

ReProgram: Reconstrução do Programa de Células Estaminais do Cancro

"SOX2-mediated tumor heterogeneity and novel therapeutic strategies targeting cancer stem cells/relevance of tumor heterogeneity for development of strategies to inhibit peritoneal carcinomatosis."

"Tackling cancer stem cells: a challenge and an opportunity to advance in anti-cancer therapy (CANCERSTEM)"

PI (closed)

CDX2 autoregulation in the reversibility/irreversibility of gastric intestinal metaplasia

"Identification of signaling pathways involved in Cdx2 regulation in two human models of altered intestinal differentiation: intestinal metaplasia and juvenile polyposis."

First Author

1. Almeida R, Almeida J, Shoshkes M, Mendes N, Mesquita P, Silva E, Van Seuningen I, Reis CA, Santos-Silva F, David L

OCT-1 is over-expressed in intestinal metaplasia and intestinal gastric carcinomas and binds to, but does not transactivate, CDX2 in gastric cells. The Journal of pathology 207: 396-401, 2005. [Article]

doi: 10.1002/path.1861 PMID: 16278805.

6.2

2. Almeida R, Silva E, Santos-Silva F, Silberg DG, Wang J, De Bolós C, David L

Expression of intestine-specific transcription factors, CDX1 and CDX2, in intestinal metaplasia and gastric carcinomas. The Journal of pathology 199: 36-40, 2003. [Article]

doi: 10.1002/path.1246 PMID: 12474224.

205

4.9

3. Almeida R, Levery SB, Mandel U, Kresse H, Schwientek T, Bennett EP, Clausen H

Cloning and expression of a proteoglycan UDP-galactose:beta-xylose beta1,4-galactosyltransferase I. A seventh member of the human beta4-galactosyltransferase gene family. The Journal of biological chemistry 274: 26165-71, 1999. [Article]

PMID: 10473568.

158

Senior Author

1. Pereira B, Billaud M, Almeida R

RNA-Binding Proteins in Cancer: Old Players and New Actors. Trends in cancer 3: 506-528, 2017. [Review]

doi: 10.1016/j.trecan.2017.05.003 PMID: 28718405.

2. Camilo V, Garrido M, Valente P, Ricardo S, Amaral AL, Barros R, Chaves P, Carneiro F, David L, Almeida R

Differentiation reprogramming in gastric intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia: role of SOX2 and CDX2. Histopathology 66: 343-50, 2015. [Article]

doi: 10.1111/his.12544 PMID: 25196071.

3.4

3. Camilo V, Barros R, Celestino R, Castro P, Vieira J, Teixeira MR, Carneiro F, Pinto-de-Sousa J, David L, Almeida R

Immunohistochemical molecular phenotypes of gastric cancer based on SOX2 and CDX2 predict patient outcome. BMC cancer 14: 753, 2014. [Article]

doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-14-753 PMID: 25300947.

3.4

4. Sadio A, Gustafsson JK, Pereira B, Gomes CP, Hansson GC, David L, Pêgo AP, Almeida R

Modified-chitosan/siRNA nanoparticles downregulate cellular CDX2 expression and cross the gastric mucus barrier. PloS one 9: e99449, 2014. [Article]

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099449 PMID: 24925340.

3.2

5. Pereira B, Sousa S, Barros R, Carreto L, Oliveira P, Oliveira C, Chartier NT, Plateroti M, Rouault JP, Freund JN, Billaud M, Almeida R

CDX2 regulation by the RNA-binding protein MEX3A: impact on intestinal differentiation and stemness. Nucleic acids research 41: 3986-99, 2013. [Article]

doi: 10.1093/nar/gkt087 PMID: 23408853.

8.8

6. Pereira B, Le Borgne M, Chartier NT, Billaud M, Almeida R

MEX-3 proteins: recent insights on novel post-transcriptional regulators. Trends in biochemical sciences 38: 477-9, 2013. [Editorial Material]

doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2013.08.004 PMID: 23999169.

13.5

7. Camilo V, Barros R, Sousa S, Magalhães AM, Lopes T, Mário Santos A, Pereira T, Figueiredo C, David L, Almeida R

Helicobacter pylori and the BMP pathway regulate CDX2 and SOX2 expression in gastric cells. Carcinogenesis 33: 1985-92, 2012. [Article]

doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgs233 PMID: 22791809.

5.6

8. Barros R, Freund JN, David L, Almeida R

Gastric intestinal metaplasia revisited: function and regulation of CDX2. Trends in molecular medicine 18: 555-63, 2012. [Review]

doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2012.07.006 PMID: 22871898.

9.6

9. Barros R, da Costa LT, Pinto-de-Sousa J, Duluc I, Freund JN, David L, Almeida R

CDX2 autoregulation in human intestinal metaplasia of the stomach: impact on the stability of the phenotype. Gut 60: 290-8, 2011. [Article]

doi: 10.1136/gut.2010.222323 PMID: 21148572.

10.1

10. Barros R, Camilo V, Pereira B, Freund JN, David L, Almeida R

Pathophysiology of intestinal metaplasia of the stomach: emphasis on CDX2 regulation. Biochemical Society transactions 38: 358-63, 2010. [Article; Proceedings Paper]

doi: 10.1042/BST0380358 PMID: 20298183.

4.0

11. Barros R, Marcos N, Reis CA, De Luca A, David L, Almeida R

CDX2 expression is induced by Helicobacter pylori in AGS cells. Scandinavian journal of gastroenterology 44: 124-5, 2009. [Letter]

doi: 10.1080/00365520802530846 PMID: 18991163.

2.1

12. Pereira B, Oliveira C, David L, Almeida R

CDX2 promoter methylation is not associated with mRNA expression. International journal of cancer 125: 1739-42, 2009. [Letter]

doi: 10.1002/ijc.24544 PMID: 19569237.

4.7

13. Barros R, Mendes N, Howe JR, Reis CA, de Bolos C, Carneiro F, David L, Almeida R

Juvenile polyps have gastric differentiation with MUC5AC expression and downregulation of CDX2 and SMAD4. Histochemistry and cell biology 131: 765-72, 2009. [Article]

doi: 10.1007/s00418-009-0579-z PMID: 19266212.

3.0

14. Pereira B, Oliveira C, David L, Almeida R

CDX2 Promoter Methylation is not Associated with mRNA Expression Helicobacter 14: 385-385, 2009. [Meeting Abstract]

2.9

15. Camilo V, Barros R, Pereira B, Magalhaes A, Reis C, Freund J, David L, David L, Almeida R

BMP and H-pylori Downregulate SOX2 Expression in Gastric Cell Lines Helicobacter 14: 330-330, 2009. [Meeting Abstract]

2.9

16. Barros R, Pereira B, Duluc I, Azevedo M, Mendes N, Camilo V, Jacobs RJ, Paulo P, Santos-Silva F, van Seuningen I, van den Brink GR, David L, Freund JN, Almeida R

Key elements of the BMP/SMAD pathway co-localize with CDX2 in intestinal metaplasia and regulate CDX2 expression in human gastric cell lines. The Journal of pathology 215: 411-20, 2008. [Article]

doi: 10.1002/path.2369 PMID: 18498120.

5.1