Autoimmunity project awarded by the Portuguese Society of Neurology

Researcher Ângela Fernandes recently won the Pereira Monteiro Scholarship to Support Translational Research in Neurology, worth five thousand euros. Awarded by the Portuguese Society of Neurology with the aim of supporting scientific research in the area of Neurosciences with high potential impact on future clinical practice, this grant will allow studying the impact of changes in the sugars that coat T cells in autoimmune diseases with the aim of finding new therapeutic strategies and control these diseases.

In this project Ângela Fernandes explained that “we will focus on a specific disease, Myasthenia Gravis (MG), and understand what happens if we reprogram the glycosylation of regulatory T cells”. MG is an autoimmune disease that affects neuromuscular junctions, leading to generalized muscle weakness and fatigue, with consequent chronic and gradual restriction of patients' daily functions, which can lead to death. “This autoimmune disease represents the ideal model to study the dynamics between the (dys)function of regulatory T cells, as it develops mainly at the central level (thymus), with regulatory T cells playing a main role in the evolution of the disease”, says the researcher.

According to Ângela Fernandes, the preliminary data obtained in the Immunology, Cancer & GlycoMedicine group, led by Salomé Pinho, and where she is developing her research, “demonstrated that the regulatory T cells of patients with MG have a sugar composition that is significantly altered, characterized by deficits in specific glycan structures, when compared to regulatory T cells from healthy individuals. This evidence formed the basis of this project in which we planned to reprogram the glycosylation of regulatory T cells in anticipation of controlling the immune response”.

The results obtained with this project, guarantees the i3S researcher, “will be crucial to clarify the impact of glycans in modulating the activities of regulatory T cells in autoimmunity, proposing their reprogramming as a potential therapeutic strategy to control and prevent MG, as well like other autoimmune diseases”.

As part of this project, the researcher will now continue to work in collaboration with neurologist Maria Ernestina Santos, from the Department of Neurology at Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Santo António (CHUSA, Porto), and access a large number of human samples from patients with MG and characterize its glycan profile.

For Ângela Fernandes, this recognition from the Portuguese Society of Neurology is a “great honor”: “It represents not only the appreciation and recognition of our group’s scientific research, but also the importance of studies in the area of autoimmunity. As a junior researcher, the opportunity to lead this innovative project with a multidisciplinary team represents an extremely motivating challenge and a driver for the next steps in my scientific career”.