creating a
healthier future
Celso Reis
Group leader

Celso A. Reis is the Head of the Glycobiology in Cancer group at i3S/Ipatimup, University of Porto, where he leads an international multidisciplinary team.  He has published 180 peer-reviewed papers, with over 10100 citations and with H-index of 47 (Scopus). His publications include papers in journals such as: Cancer Cell, Nature Cell Biology, Int. J. Cancer, Cancer Research, Nature Reviews in Cancer, PNAS, JBC, JACS, BBA, FEBS Lett, Molecular Cellular Proteomics, Oncogene, Cancer Letters, Mucosal Immunology, Cellular Immunology, Journal Clinical Investigation, among others.

Celso A. Reis research focus on the role of glycosylation in human cancer. He has addressed the molecular mechanisms controlling glycosylation in cancer cell biology, more specifically the role of glycosyltransferases regulating the biosynthesis of glycans in cancer. These included the role of sialyltransferases leading to the biosynthesis of terminal sialylated glycan antigens expressed by cancer cells, such as ST6GalNAc determining the aberrant expression of the simple O-glycan Sialyl-Tn antigen, and the ST3Gal-transferases and Fucosyltransferases controlling the expression of sialyl-Lewis antigens.

Celso A. Reis has contributed for determining the role of these glycosylation modifications and the consequences to cancer cell biology, including the mechanisms regulating cancer invasion, metastasis and tumour glycoimmunology. CR has also addressed the application of glycoconjugates as biomarkers in human cancer and pre-neoplastic lesions, and the application of novel unique monoclonal antibodies to clinical samples.

Currently, Celso A. Reis aims to develop novel strategies to detect and characterize cancer, and to be able to improve cancer treatment based on the identification of the key glycans controlling cancer cell communication, glycans that can be used as markers for cancer patient stratification, as well as glycans and glycoconjugate that can be used as novel targets in cancer therapy.

Selected Publications

Mereiter S., Balmaña M., Campos D., Gomes J., Reis C.A.
Glycosylation in the Era of Cancer-Targeted Therapy: Where Are We Heading?. Cancer Cell36(1):6-16, 2019. [Journal: Review] [CI: 333] [IF: 26,6]
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2019.06.006 SCOPUS: 85067650826

Duarte H.O., Rodrigues J.G., Gomes C., Hensbergen P.J., Ederveen A.L.H., de Ru A.H., Mereiter S., Polónia A., Fernandes E., Ferreira J.A., van Veelen P.A., Santos L.L., Wuhrer M., Gomes J., Reis C.A.
ST6Gal1 targets the ectodomain of ErbB2 in a site-specific manner and regulates gastric cancer cell sensitivity to trastuzumab. Oncogene40(21):3719-3733, 2021. [Journal: Article] [CI: 33] [IF: 8,8]
DOI: 10.1038/s41388-021-01801-w SCOPUS: 85105357480

Rodrigues J.G., Duarte H.O., Gomes C., Balmaña M., Martins Á.M., Hensbergen P.J., de Ru A.H., Lima J., Albergaria A., van Veelen P.A., Wuhrer M., Gomes J., Reis C.A.
Terminal α2,6-sialylation of epidermal growth factor receptor modulates antibody therapy response of colorectal cancer cells. Cellular Oncology44(4):835-850, 2021. [Journal: Article] [CI: 20] [IF: 7,1]
DOI: 10.1007/s13402-021-00606-z SCOPUS: 85104515471

Martins Á.M., Lopes T.M., Diniz F., Pires J., Osório H., Pinto F., Freitas D., Reis C.A.
Differential Protein and Glycan Packaging into Extracellular Vesicles in Response to 3D Gastric Cancer Cellular Organization. Advanced Science:, 2023. [Journal: Article] [CI: 2] [IF: 15,1 (*)]
DOI: 10.1002/advs.202300588 SCOPUS: 85162202761

Freitas D., Campos D., Gomes J., Pinto F., Macedo J.A., Matos R., Mereiter S., Pinto M.T., Polónia A., Gartner F., Magalhães A., Reis C.A.
O-glycans truncation modulates gastric cancer cell signaling and transcription leading to a more aggressive phenotype. EBioMedicine40:349-362, 2019. [Journal: Article] [CI: 66] [IF: 5,7]
DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.01.017 SCOPUS: 85060115866

Freitas D., Balmaña M., Poças J., Campos D., Osório H., Konstantinidi A., Vakhrushev S.Y., Magalhães A., Reis C.A.
Different isolation approaches lead to diverse glycosylated extracellular vesicle populations. Journal of Extracellular Vesicles8(1):, 2019. [Journal: Article] [CI: 75] [IF: 15]
DOI: 10.1080/20013078.2019.1621131 SCOPUS: 85074725417

Zhang H., Freitas D., Kim H.S., Fabijanic K., Li Z., Chen H., Mark M.T., Molina H., Martin A.B., Bojmar L., Fang J., Rampersaud S., Hoshino A., Matei I., Kenific C.M., Nakajima M., Mutvei A.P., Sansone P., Buehring W., Wang H., Jimenez J.P., Cohen-Gould L., Paknejad N., Brendel M., Manova-Todorova K., Magalhães A., Ferreira J.A., Osório H., Silva A.M., Massey A., Cubillos-Ruiz J.R., Galletti G., Giannakakou P., Cuervo A.M., Blenis J., Schwartz R., Brady M.S., Peinado H., Bromberg J., Matsui H., Reis C.A., Lyden D.
Identification of distinct nanoparticles and subsets of extracellular vesicles by asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation. Nature Cell Biology20(3):332-343, 2018. [Journal: Article] [CI: 1104] [IF: 17,7]
DOI: 10.1038/s41556-018-0040-4 SCOPUS: 85042193942

Magalhães A., Duarte H.O., Reis C.A.
Aberrant Glycosylation in Cancer: A Novel Molecular Mechanism Controlling Metastasis. Cancer Cell31(6):733-735, 2017. [Journal: Short Survey] [CI: 121] [IF: 22,8]
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2017.05.012 SCOPUS: 85020642808

Marcos N.T., Pinho S., Grandela C., Cruz A., Samyn-Petit B., Harduin-Lepers A., Almeida R., Silva F., Morais V., Costa J., Kihlberg J., Clausen H., Reis C.A.
Role of the human ST6GalNAc-I and ST6GalNAc-II in the synthesis of the cancer-associated Sialyl-Tn antigen. Cancer Research64(19):7050-7057, 2004. [Journal: Article] [CI: 198] [IF: 7,7]
DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-1921 SCOPUS: 4944265751

Marcos N.T., Magalhães A., Ferreira B., Oliveira M.J., Carvalho A.S., Mendes N., Gilmartin T., Head S.R., Figueiredo C., David L., Santos-Silva F., Reis C.A.
Helicobacter pylori induces β3GnT5 in human gastric cell lines, modulating expression of the SabA ligand sialyl-Lewis x. Journal of Clinical Investigation118(6):2325-2336, 2008. [Journal: Article] [CI: 110] [IF: 16,6]
DOI: 10.1172/JCI34324 SCOPUS: 45649085812

Campos D., Freitas D., Gomes J., Magalhães A., Steentoft C., Gomes C., Vester-Christensen M.B., Ferreira J.A., Afonso L.P., Santos L.L., De Sousa J.P., Mandel U., Clausen H., Vakhrushev S.Y., Reis C.A.
Probing the O-glycoproteome of gastric cancer cell lines for biomarker discovery. Molecular and Cellular Proteomics14(6):1616-1629, 2015. [Journal: Article] [CI: 89] [IF: 5,9]
DOI: 10.1074/mcp.M114.046862 SCOPUS: 84930470850

Pinho S.S., Reis C.A.
Glycosylation in cancer: Mechanisms and clinical implications. Nature Reviews Cancer15(9):540-555, 2015. [Journal: Review] [CI: 2054] [IF: 34,2]
DOI: 10.1038/nrc3982 SCOPUS: 84940449986