The immune system in Multiple Sclerosis
This project aims to explore the immune system on multiple sclerosis pathophysiology and is divided in 3 branches:
– Tcells@MS. Our recent studies on newly diagnoses RRMS and PPMS patients…
- Research
- Inflammation at the nervous system interfaces
- João Canto-Gomes
João Canto-Gomes
- Multiple sclerosis
- Chronic Diseases
- Immunity
- T cells
- NK cells
João is a research fellow at the University of Minho. He graduated in Applied Biology in 2015. He later completed a master’s degree in Health Sciences in 2017 and a PhD in 2023 at the University of Minho. During his bachelor’s internship, he studied the immune system’s recovery in HIV-infected patients after antiretroviral therapy (ART). This research ignited his passion for immunology. During his master’s degree, João undertook a project to investigate immune system alterations in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). Subsequently, he held a 6-month fellowship project, assessing immune response patterns in active and latent tuberculosis after stimulation with mycobacterial glycolipids. In 2018, João received a PhD fellowship from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under the Inter-University Doctoral Program in Aging and Chronic Diseases. Under the supervision of Claudia Nobrega, João and his colleagues discovered that individuals recently diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS exhibit a less mature phenotype on their T cells than healthy controls. In 2022, he was awarded an EMBO Scientific Exchange Grant to support a 6-month placement at Professor Andrew McMichael’s lab in the University of Oxford. The placement enabled João to sequence and analyse the T cell receptor repertoire of Epstein-Barr Virus-specific HLA-E-restricted CD8+ T cells and the function of those cells.
Currently, the main interests of João are:
i) understand the mechanisms that underlie the less mature T cell phenotype in the blood of people with multiple sclerosis;
ii) explore T cell receptor repertoire specific to the Epstein-Barr virus in individuals with multiple sclerosis in comparison to Epstein-Barr Virus seroconverted controls
João Canto-Gomes
- Multiple sclerosis
- Chronic Diseases
- Immunity
- T cells
- NK cells
João is a research fellow at the University of Minho. He graduated in Applied Biology in 2015. He later completed a master’s degree in Health Sciences in 2017 and a PhD in 2023 at the University of Minho. During his bachelor’s internship, he studied the immune system’s recovery in HIV-infected patients after antiretroviral therapy (ART). This research ignited his passion for immunology. During his master’s degree, João undertook a project to investigate immune system alterations in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). Subsequently, he held a 6-month fellowship project, assessing immune response patterns in active and latent tuberculosis after stimulation with mycobacterial glycolipids. In 2018, João received a PhD fellowship from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under the Inter-University Doctoral Program in Aging and Chronic Diseases. Under the supervision of Claudia Nobrega, João and his colleagues discovered that individuals recently diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS exhibit a less mature phenotype on their T cells than healthy controls. In 2022, he was awarded an EMBO Scientific Exchange Grant to support a 6-month placement at Professor Andrew McMichael’s lab in the University of Oxford. The placement enabled João to sequence and analyse the T cell receptor repertoire of Epstein-Barr Virus-specific HLA-E-restricted CD8+ T cells and the function of those cells.
Currently, the main interests of João are:
i) understand the mechanisms that underlie the less mature T cell phenotype in the blood of people with multiple sclerosis;
ii) explore T cell receptor repertoire specific to the Epstein-Barr virus in individuals with multiple sclerosis in comparison to Epstein-Barr Virus seroconverted controls
Scientific Highlights
Selected Publications:
Distinct disease-modifying therapies are associated with different blood immune cell profiles in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis “
J. Canto-Gomes, D. Boleixa, C. Teixeira, A. Martins da Silva, I. González-Suárez, J. J. Cerqueira, M. Correia-Neves and C. Nobrega
bioRxiv 549852 (2023)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.20.549852.
“People with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis have a lower number of central memory T cells and HLA-DR+ Tregs”
J. Canto-Gomes, S. da Silva-Ferreira, C. S. Silva, D. Boleixa, A. Martins da Silva, I. González-Suárez, J. J. Cerqueira, M. Correia-Neves and C. Nobrega
Cells (2023). 12(3):439
DOI: 10.3390/cells12030439
“HLA-E-restricted SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells from convalescent COVID-19 patients suppress virus replication despite HLA class Ia down-regulation”
H. Yang, H. Sun, S. Brackenridge, X. Zhuang, P. A. C. Wing, M. Quastel, L. Walters, L. Garner, B. Wang, X. Yao, S. Ling Felce, Y. Peng, S. Moore, B. W. A. Peeters, M. Rei, J. Canto-Gomes, A. Tomas, A. Davidson, M. G. Semple, L. C. W. Turtle, P. J. M. Openshaw, J. K. Baillie, A. J. Mentzer, P. Klenerman, ISARIC4C Investigators, P. Borrow, T. Dong, J. A. McKeating, G. M. Gillespie, A. J. McMichael
Science Immunology (2023). 8(84).eabl8881
DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abl8881.
“Low memory T cells blood counts and high naïve regulatory T cells percentage at relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis diagnosis”
J. Canto-Gomes, C. S. Silva, R. Rb-Silva, D. Boleixa, A. Martins Da Silva, R. Cheynier, P. Soares Costa, I. González- Suárez, M. Correia-Neves, J. J. Cerqueira and C. Nobrega
Front. Immunol. (2022). 13: 901165
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.901165
“Increased Gal-3BP plasma levels in hospitalized patients infected with SARS-CoV-2”
V. Gallo, ISERC-Team, R. Gentile, G. Antonini, S. Iacobelli
Clin. Exp. Med. (2022). 23:151
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-021-00788-8.
“Performance assessment of 11 commercial serological tests for SARS-CoV-2 on hospitalized COVID-19 patients”
C. Serre-Miranda*, C. Nobrega*, S. Roque*, J. Canto-Gomes, C. S. Silva, N. Vieira, P. Barreira-Silva, P. Alves-Peixoto, J. Cotter, A. Reis, M. Formigo, H. Sarmento, O. Pires, A. Carvalho, D. Y. Petrovykh, L. Diéguez, J. C. Sousa, N. Sousa, C. Capela, J. A. Palha, P. G. Cunha, M. Correia-Neves
Int. J. Inf. Dis. (2021). 104:661
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.01.038
“High Dimensional Immune Profiling Reveals Different Response Patterns in Active and Latent Tuberculosis Following Stimulation with Mycobacterial Glycolipids”
C. S. Silva, C. Sundling, E. Folkesson, G. Fröberg, C. Nobrega, J. Canto-Gomes, B. J. Chambers, T. Lakshmikanth, P. Brodin, J. Bruchfeld, J. Nigou, M. Correia-Neves, G. Kallenius
Front. Immunol. (2021). 12:727300
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.727300
“Thymic function as a predictor of immune recovery in chronically HIV-infected patients initiating antiretroviral therapy”
R. Rb-Silva, C. Nobrega, C. Azevedo, E. Athayde, J. do Canto Gomes, I. Ferreira, R. Cheynier, A. Yates, A. Horta, M. Correia-Neves
Front. Immunol. (2019). 2:25
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.00025
Grants:
07/2022 Awardee, EMBO Scientific Exchange Grant, Funder: EMBO
Projects:
2022-Present (Team member), “Tcells@MS-Why are peripheral T cells less mature at Multiple Sclerosis clinical onset?”, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) University of Minho, Braga, Portugal; Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).
2021-Present (Team member), “Assessment of SARS-COV-2 vaccine response in patients with multiple sclerosis (COVACiMS)”, Funders: Grupo de Estudos em Esclerose Multipla (GEEM), Roche and Biogen.
2020-2021 (Team member), “Which, when and for who? Serodiagnosis as a tool to complement diagnosis and evaluate population immunity against SARS-CoV-2”, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), University of Minho, Braga, Portugal; Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).
2018-2020 (Team member), “Relation between regulatory T cells and immunological hyperactivation associated co-morbilities of chronically infected HIV-infected patients”, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) University of Minho, Braga, Portugal; Funder: Gilead Sciences Lda.
Add Your Heading Text Here
Projects
As Leader
Projects
As Member
Contact us
Phone: +351 253 604 967
Fax: +351 253 604 809
Email: icvs.sec@med.uminho.pt
Address
Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute (ICVS)
School of Medicine,
University of Minho,
Campus de Gualtar
4710-057 Braga
Portugal
GPS: +41° 33′ 47.33″, -8° 24′ 3.39″
Copyright ©2022 ICVS. All Rights Reserved
Copyright ©2022 ICVS. All Rights Reserved
Address
Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute (ICVS)
School of Medicine,
University of Minho,
Campus de Gualtar
4710-057 Braga
Portugal
GPS: +41° 33′ 47.33″, -8° 24′ 3.39″
Copyright ©2022 ICVS. All Rights Reserved
Address
Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute (ICVS)
School of Medicine,
University of Minho,
Campus de Gualtar
4710-057 Braga
Portugal
GPS: +41° 33′ 47.33″, -8° 24′ 3.39″