From the earliest days of my medical education, I have been driven by an insatiable curiosity about the intersection between neurobiology and psychiatric disorders. My research on Ca2+/cAMP signaling has deepened my understanding of the biochemical processes that regulate neurotransmission, neuroprotection, and neurodegenerative diseases. These investigations have not only contributed to fundamental scientific knowledge but have also opened doors to novel therapeutic strategies in psychiatry—where translational science and clinical medicine converge to address pressing challenges in patient care. My academic journey began at EPM-UNIFESP (Brazil), where I earned degrees in Biomedicine (2008), MSc (2010), and PhD (2014), including a research period at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, Spain). In 2024, I obtained my MD degree, reinforcing my commitment to integrating scientific discovery with clinical practice.
EDUCATION
My academic journey began at EPM-UNIFESP (Brazil), where I earned degrees in Biomedicine (2008), MSc (2010), and PhD (2014), including a research period at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, Spain). In 2024, I obtained my MD degree, reinforcing my commitment to integrating scientific discovery with clinical practice.
The Interactions among Hypertension, Cancer, and COVID-19: Perspective with Regard to Ca2+/cAMP Signalling Leandro Bueno Bergantin Current Cancer Drug Targets, 2022 Background: The hypothesis that hypertension is clinically associated with an enhanced risk of developing cancer has been highlighted. However, the working principles involved in this link are still under intensive discussion. A correlation among inflammation, hypertension, and cancer could accurately describe the clinical link between these diseases. In addition, dyshomeostasis of Ca2+ has been considered to be involved in both cancer and hypertension, and inflammation. There is a strong link between Ca2+ signalling, e.g. enhanced Ca2+ signals, and inflammatory outcomes. cAMP also modulates pro- and anti-inflammatory outcomes; pharmaceuticals, which increase intracellular cAMP levels, can decrease the production of proinflammatory mediators and enhance the production of antiinflammatory outcomes. Objective: This article highlights the participation of Ca2+/cAMP signalling in the clinical association among inflammation, hypertension, and an enhanced risk for the development of cancer. In addition, considering that research on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a rapidly evolving field, this article also reviews recent reports related to the role of Ca2+ channel blockers in restoring Ca2+ signalling disruption due to COVID-19, including the relationship among COVID-19, cancer, and hypertension. Conclusion: An understanding of the association among these diseases could expand current pharmacotherapy, involving Ca2+ channel blockers and pharmaceuticals that facilitate a rise in cAMP levels.
A Timeline of Ca2+/cAMP Signalling: From Basic Research to Potential Therapeutics for Dementia Leandro B. Bergantin Current Alzheimer Research, 2022 Background: The hypothesis that a dyshomeostasis of Ca2+ increases the incidence of dementia has been established. Several discoveries have emphasized the concept that a decrease in the excess of Ca2+ could be an interesting pharmacological target to alleviate dementia symptoms. Aging along with a healthy brain can be supported by daily exercise, self-control in caloric ingestion, and participation in intellectually challenging events. These lifestyle factors may alleviate the excess of Ca2+ resulting from a Ca2+ dyshomeostasis. Curiously, epidemiological and clinical studies have also reported a clinical relationship between hypertension, diabetes, and other inflammatory processes, and a higher risk of cognition decline. Considering the cumulative data from the scientific literature, including data of high evidence such as meta-analysis and systematic reviews, we can now link a Ca2+ dyshomeostasis as an upstream factor for hypertension, diabetes and other inflammatory processes, and dementia. Several reports have also indicated that increasing cAMP levels may induce neuroprotective outcomes, thus alleviating dementia symptoms. Methods: With these concepts in mind, we found that the pharmacological manipulation of Ca2+/cAMP signalling could be a novel plausible target to treat dementia. This article puts together fundamental concepts and current therapies to treat dementia, including novel therapeutics coming from the pharmacological manipulation of Ca2+/cAMP signalling. Results: Then, combined with improvements in the lifestyle issues, these novel therapeutics may allow sustained improvements in the life quality of age-related neurological patients. Conclusions: In addition, considering coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a rapidly evolving field, this article also reviewed recent reports about Ca2+ channel blockers' role in restoring Ca2+ signalling disruption due to COVID-19. Finally, this article also presents a timeline of the major events in Ca2+/cAMP signaling.
Common Issues Among Asthma, Epilepsy, and Schizophrenia: From Inflammation to Ca2+/cAMP Signalling Leandro Bueno Bergantin Anti Inflammatory and Anti Allergy Agents in Medicinal Chemistry, 2021 Background: A large amount of evidence has described that asthma may be associated with a high epilepsy risk, and epilepsy may be linked with high asthma risk, especially among children and individuals in their 30s. Curiously, asthma has also been associated with an increased risk for schizophrenia. Most interestingly, a bidirectional link between schizophrenia and epilepsy has also been established and has been of interest for many years. Objective: Bearing in mind the experience of our group in the field of Ca2+/cAMP signalling pathways, this article discussed, beyond inflammation, the role of these signalling pathways in this link among epilepsy, asthma, and schizophrenia. Methods: Publications involving these signalling pathways, asthma, epilepsy, and schizophrenia (alone or combined) were collected by searching PubMed and EMBASE. Results and Conclusion: There is a clear relationship between Ca2+ signalling, e.g. increased Ca2+ signals and inflammatory responses. In addition to Ca2+, cAMP regulates pro- and anti-inflammatory responses. Then, beyond inflammation, the comprehension of the link among epilepsy, asthma, and schizophrenia could improve the drug therapy.
Neuroinflammation, Diabetes and COVID-19: Perspectives Coming from Ca2+/cAMP Signalling Leandro Bueno Bergantin Current Drug Research Reviews, 2021 A link between inflammatory diseases, e.g,. epilepsy, dementia, diabetes, and COVID-19, has been established. For instance, observational studies involving several individuals reported that people with epilepsy show an enhanced incidence of manifesting dysfunctions related to cognition, e.g., dementia, while people with dementia have a higher incidence of manifesting epilepsy, thus an evident bidirectional relationship between epilepsy and dementia might occur. In addition, epilepsy commonly cooccurs in patients with diabetes, indicating an association between these two disorders. Intriguingly, some reports have also observed a poor prognosis of people with both diabetes and COVID-19. It is recognized that a dyshomeostasis of both Ca2+ and cAMP signalling pathways could be a molecular connection for these disorders. Therefore, clarifying this clinical relationship among epilepsy, dementia, diabetes, and COVID-19 may outcome in novel hypotheses for identifying the etiology of these disorders.
Dementia, diabetes, and hypertension: Is there a unified theory through a dysregulation of the Ca2+ homeostasis? Dementia Diabetes and Hypertension is there A Unified Theory Through A Dysregulation of the Ca2 Homeostasis, 2021
Can we represent the depreobesity genetically? Mohamed Mediouni, Leandro Bueno Bergantin, Riadh Madiouni, Karolina Elżbieta Kaczor-Urbanowicz, Andrzej Urbanowicz Obesity Medicine, 2020
Debating the link between atrial fibrillation and psychiatric diseases through Ca2+/cAMP signaling LB Bergantin World Journal of Psychiatry 15 (7), 107130 , 2025 2025
Ca2+/cAMP ratio in age-related diseases LB Bergantin Brain Circulation 10 (3), 281-282 , 2024 2024 Citations: 1
The Connections between Inflammaging and Ca 2+ /cAMP Signalling: A Unified Theory LB Bergantin Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 24 (16), 1359-1361 , 2024 2024 Citations: 1
The Connections between Atrial Fibrillation and Mental Disorders: Role of Ca2+/cAMP Signalling LB Bergantin Current Signal Transduction Therapy 19 (3), 12-14 , 2024 2024 Citations: 1
Ca 2+ /cAMP Ratio as an Inflammatory Index LB Bergantin Current Hypertension Reviews 19 (1), 4-6 , 2023 2023 Citations: 3
Ca2+/cAMP ratio: An inflammatory index for diabetes, hypertension, and COVID-19 L Bergantin World Journal of Diabetes 14 (3), 343 , 2023 2023 Citations: 2
Application of Nonlinear Dynamic Models of the Oculo-Motor System in Diagnostic Studies in Neurosciences VD Pavlenko, TV Shamanina, VV Chori Journal of Neuroscience and Neurological Disorders 7 (2), 126-133 , 2023 2023 Citations: 4
COVID-19 and Obesity: Reevaluating the Relationship Through Ca 2+ /cAMP Signalling LB Bergantin Current Drug Research Reviews Formerly: Current Drug Abuse Reviews 14 (3 … , 2022 2022 Citations: 4
Mental Disorders and Poor COVID-19 Prognosis: Reevaluating the Relationship through Ca 2+ /cAMP Signalling LB Bergantin Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 22 (15), 1215-1218 , 2022 2022 Citations: 3
The Interactions among Hypertension, Cancer, and COVID-19: Perspective with Regard to Ca 2+ /cAMP Signalling LB Bergantin Current Cancer Drug Targets 22 (5), 351-360 , 2022 2022 Citations: 3
A Timeline of Ca 2+ /cAMP Signalling: From Basic Research to Potential Therapeutics for Dementia LB Bergantin Current Alzheimer Research 19 (3), 179-187 , 2022 2022 Citations: 10
Neuroinflammation, Diabetes and COVID-19: Perspectives Coming from Ca2+/cAMP Signalling LB Bergantin Current Drug Research Reviews Formerly: Current Drug Abuse Reviews 14 (1), 6-10 , 2022 2022
Common Issues Among Asthma, Epilepsy, and Schizophrenia: From Inflammation to Ca 2+ /cAMP Signalling LB Bergantin Anti-Inflammatory & Anti-Allergy Agents in Medicinal Chemistryrrent … , 2021 2021 Citations: 4
Diabetes and inflammatory diseases: An overview from the perspective of Ca2+/3'-5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate signaling LB Bergantin World Journal of Diabetes 12 (6), 767 , 2021 2021 Citations: 14
The Interplay Among Epilepsy, Parkinson’s Disease and Inflammation: Revisiting the Link through Ca 2+ /cAMP Signalling LB Bergantin Current Neurovascular Research 18 (1), 162-168 , 2021 2021 Citations: 13
Dementia, Diabetes, and Hypertension: Is There a Unified Theory through a Dysregulation of the Ca2+ Homeostasis? LB Bergantin Nova Science Publishers Inc , 2021 2021
The interactions between Alzheimer’s disease and major depression: role of Ca2+ channel blockers and Ca2+/cAMP signalling LB Bergantin Current Drug Research Reviews Formerly: Current Drug Abuse Reviews 12 (2 … , 2020 2020 Citations: 18
The interplay between depression and Parkinson´ s disease: learning the link through Ca2+/cAMP signaling LB Bergantin Current Protein and Peptide Science 21 (12), 1223-1228 , 2020 2020 Citations: 5
Can we represent the depreobesity genetically? M Mediouni, LB Bergantin, R Madiouni, KE Kaczor-Urbanowicz, ... Obesity Medicine 19, 100273 , 2020 2020 Citations: 4
The clinical link between depression and obesity: Role of Ca2+/cAMP signalling LB Bergantin Psychiatry Research 291, 113167 , 2020 2020 Citations: 17
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Autophagy and Alzheimer’s disease: from molecular mechanisms to therapeutic implications MS Uddin, A Stachowiak, AA Mamun, NT Tzvetkov, S Takeda, ... Frontiers in aging neuroscience 10, 04 , 2018 2018 Citations: 490
Challenges for the pharmacological treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders: Implications of the Ca2+/cAMP intracellular signalling interaction LB Bergantin, A Caricati-Neto European Journal of Pharmacology 788, 255-260 , 2016 2016 Citations: 84
Pharmacological implications of the Ca2+/cAMP signaling interaction: from risk for antihypertensive therapy to potential beneficial for neurological and psychiatric disorders A Caricati-Neto, AG García, LB Bergantin Pharmacology Research & Perspectives 3 (5), e00181 , 2015 2015 Citations: 78
NOVEL MODEL FOR “CALCIUM PARADOX” IN SYMPATHETIC TRANSMISSION OF SMOOTH MUSCLES: ROLE OF CYCLIC AMP PATHWAY LB Bergantin, CF Souza, R Miranda-Ferreira, SS Smaili, NH Jurkiewicz, ... Latinfarma, 121 , 2014 2014 Citations: 73
Activating cAMP/PKA signaling in skeletal muscle suppresses the ubiquitin-proteasome-dependent proteolysis: implications for sympathetic regulation WA Silveira, DA Gonçalves, FA Graça, AL Andrade-Lopes, LB Bergantin, ... Journal of Applied Physiology 117 (1), 11-19 , 2014 2014 Citations: 58
A Calcium Paradox in the Context of Neurotransmission LB Bergantin, A Jurkiewicz, AG García, A Caricati-Neto Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology-David Publishing 3, 253-261 , 2015 2015 Citations: 36
Recent advances in pharmacotherapy of neurological and psychiatric disorders promoted by discovery of the role of Ca2+/cAMP signaling interaction in the neurotransmission and … LB Bergantin, A Caricati-Neto Adv Pharmac J 1 (3), 66 , 2016 2016 Citations: 29
Novel insights for therapy of Parkinson’s disease: Pharmacological modulation of the Ca2+/cAMP signalling interaction LB Bergantin, A Caricati-Neto Austin Neurol & Neurosci 1 (2), 1009 , 2016 2016 Citations: 29
Insight from “Calcium Paradox” due to Ca2+/cAMP interaction: novel pharmacological strategies for the treatment of depression LB Bergantin, A Caricati-Neto Int Arch Clin Pharmacol 2 (007) , 2016 2016 Citations: 27
Depression Rises the Risk of Hypertension Incidence: Discussing the Link through the Ca 2+ /cAMP Signalling LB Bergantin Current Hypertension Reviews 16 (1), 73-78 , 2020 2020 Citations: 26
Hypertension, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases: is there a clinical link through the Ca2+/cAMP signalling interaction? LB Bergantin Current hypertension reviews 15 (1), 32-39 , 2019 2019 Citations: 26
Debating the “bidirectional link” between diabetes and depression through the Ca2+/cAMP signalling: Off-label effects of Ca2+ channel blockers LB Bergantin Pharmacological Research 141, 298-302 , 2019 2019 Citations: 25
Diabetes and cancer: debating the link through Ca2+/cAMP signalling LB Bergantin Cancer letters 448, 128-131 , 2019 2019 Citations: 20
Pharmacological modulation of neural Ca2+/camp signaling interaction as therapeutic goal for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease A Caricati-Neto, LB Bergantin J Syst Integr Neurosci 3, e00181 , 2017 2017 Citations: 20
From discovering "calcium paradox" to Ca2+/cAMP interaction: Impact in human health and disease LB Bergantin, A Caricati-Neto Scholars´ Press , 2016 2016 Citations: 20
The passion of a scientific discovery: the “calcium paradox” due to Ca2+/camp interaction A Caricati-Neto, LB Bergantin pharmacotherapy 7, 8 , 2017 2017 Citations: 19
The interactions between Alzheimer’s disease and major depression: role of Ca2+ channel blockers and Ca2+/cAMP signalling LB Bergantin Current Drug Research Reviews Formerly: Current Drug Abuse Reviews 12 (2 … , 2020 2020 Citations: 18
From a “eureka insight” to a novel potential therapeutic target to treat Parkinsons disease: The Ca2+/camp signalling interaction A Caricati-Neto, LB Bergantin J Syst Integr Neurosci 4 (2), 454-463 , 2017 2017 Citations: 18
Insights for the inhibition of cancer progression: Revisiting Ca2+ and cAMP signalling pathways PR Errante, A Caricati-Neto, LB Bergantin Adv Cancer Prev 2, 1-2 , 2017 2017 Citations: 18
The clinical link between depression and obesity: Role of Ca2+/cAMP signalling LB Bergantin Psychiatry Research 291, 113167 , 2020 2020 Citations: 17
