Inflammation at the nervous system interfaces

The interplay between the immune and the nervous system ensures the maintenance of a healthy nervous system by ensuring immune surveillance, protection from pathogenic microbes and toxins,and clearance of endogenous toxic compounds that are formed in the normal aging process. An inadequate relationship between these systems often leads to pathological inflammation and neurodegeneration, contributing to many relevant neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis or inflammatory polyneuropathy. Despite its importance, the study of the inflammatory and immunological processes in the central and peripheral nervous tissue, both in health and in disease, remains poorly understood and unexplored.
In the INSI research team we aim at exploring the interaction between immunity, inflammation and neurodegeneration, approaching the topic from multiple dimensions. Our efforts will be centered not only in the study of the immune cells but also in the structures of interface (choroid plexus, blood brain/nerve barrier, glymphatics) as well as in the contribution of resident glial cell responses for the regulation of inflammation.

 

Team Members

Projects

Success Story

Selected Research Outputs

Falcão AM, van Bruggen D, Marques S, Meijer M, Jäkel S, Agirre E, Samudyata, Floriddia EM, Vanichkina DP, Ffrench-Constant C, Williams A, Guerreiro-Cacais AO, Castelo-Branco G. Disease-specific oligodendrocyte lineage cells arise in multiple sclerosis. Nat Med. 2018 Dec;24(12):1837-1844. doi: 10.1038/s41591-018-0236-y. Epub 2018 Nov 12. PMID: 30420755; PMCID: PMC6544508.

Falcão AM, Meijer M, Scaglione A, Rinwa P, Agirre E, Liang J, Larsen SC, Heskol A, Frawley R, Klingener M, Varas-Godoy M, Raposo AASF, Ernfors P, Castro DS, Nielsen ML, Casaccia P, Castelo-Branco G. PAD2-Mediated Citrullination Contributes to Efficient Oligodendrocyte Differentiation and Myelination. Cell Rep. 2019 Apr 23;27(4):1090-1102.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.03.108. PMID: 31018126; PMCID: PMC6486480.

das Neves SP, Sousa JC, Sousa N, Cerqueira JJ, Marques F. Altered astrocytic function in experimental neuroinflammation and multiple sclerosis. Glia. 2021 Jun;69(6):1341-1368. doi: 10.1002/glia.23940. Epub 2020 Nov 28. PMID: 33247866.

das Neves SP, Serre-Miranda C, Sousa JC, Costa PS, Sousa N, Cerqueira JJ, Marques F. Lipocalin-2 does not influence EAE clinical score but it increases inflammation in central nervous system. J Neuroimmunol. 2022 Jul 15;368:577872. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2022.577872. Epub 2022 Apr 18. PMID: 35504189.

Ferreira AC, Santos T, Sampaio-Marques B, Novais A, Mesquita SD, Ludovico P, Bernardino L, Correia-Neves M, Sousa N, Palha JA, Sousa JC, Marques F. Lipocalin-2 regulates adult neurogenesis and contextual discriminative behaviours. Mol Psychiatry. 2018 Apr;23(4):1031-1039. doi: 10.1038/mp.2017.95. Epub 2017 May 9. PMID: 28485407.

Santos-Silva MA, Sousa N, Sousa JC. Correlation Analysis between Hemoglobin and C-Reactive Protein in Patients Admitted to an Emergency Unit. J Clin Med. 2021 Nov 19;10(22):5411. doi: 10.3390/jcm10225411. PMID: 34830693; PMCID: PMC8622244.

Canto-Gomes J, Silva CS, Rb-Silva R, Boleixa D, da Silva AM, Cheynier R, Costa P, González-Suárez I, Correia-Neves M, Cerqueira JJ, Nobrega C. Low Memory T Cells Blood Counts and High Naïve Regulatory T Cells Percentage at Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis. Front Immunol. 2022 May 30;13:901165. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.901165. PMID: 35711452; PMCID: PMC9196633.

Canto-Gomes J, Da Silva-Ferreira S, Silva CS, Boleixa D, Martins da Silva A, González-Suárez I, Cerqueira JJ, Correia-Neves M, Nobrega C. People with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis Have a Lower Number of Central Memory T Cells and HLA-DR+ Tregs. Cells. 2023 Jan 29;12(3):439. doi: 10.3390/cells12030439. PMID: 36766781; PMCID: PMC9913799.

das Neves SP, Serre-Miranda C, Nobrega C, Roque S, Cerqueira JJ, Correia-Neves M, Marques F. Immune Thymic Profile of the MOG-Induced Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Mouse Model. Front Immunol. 2018 Oct 11;9:2335. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.02335. PMID: 30369926; PMCID: PMC6194318.

Bevilacqua Rolfsen Ferreira da Silva G, Pereira das Neves S, Roque Oliveira SC, Marques F, Gomes de Oliveira A, de Lima Leite F, Cerqueira JJ. Comparative effectiveness of preventive treatment with dimethyl fumarate-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles and oral dimethyl fumarate in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. J Autoimmun. 2022 Oct;132:102893. doi: 10.1016/j.jaut.2022.102893. Epub 2022 Aug 24. PMID: 36029715.