Helga E de Vries

Helga (Elga) De Vries is a Dutch neuroimmunologist and a Full Professor in the Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology at Amsterdam University Medical Centers in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. De Vries is a leader in the field of blood brain barrier research, She graduated in 1995 and pursued postdoctoral training at University College London in the United Kingdom with the support of a Marie-Curie Fellowship.

Career and research After completing her postdoctoral research, De Vries received the VIDI grant from the Dutch research council (NWO), which supported her in starting her own lab in Amsterdam at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers (Universitair Medische Centra). De Vries holds the title of Full Professor in the Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology. She investigates how blood brain barrier disruptions impact the immune cells in the brain, and how neurovascular biology impacts the inflammatory state of the brain. Her research has led to novel insights into the role of blood brain interactions in Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer's Disease., Small changes to BBB permeability due to damage or disease can be severely detrimental to brain health, and changes in BBB have been implicated in various neurological diseases. De Vries proposed antioxidant therapy as a potential form of treatment for MS to inhibit the development or progression of the disease. She found that, in the brains of MS patients, astrocytes were the main producers of ceramide. Astrocytes produce retinoic acid, which acts as an endogenous anti-inflammatory compound protecting the BBB from degradation and harm due to inflammation. and her work highlighted the mechanisms underlying this trafficking. Continuing to probe the ways that immune cells infiltrate the brain, De Vries found that the NMDA receptor subunit 1 is expressed on the endothelial cells lining the BBB and is involved in regulating tPA, which permits the entry of monocytes from the periphery into the CNS.

In a following study, De Vries probed the biology of macrophage infiltration into the CNS. She found that activation status played a critical role on the effects of the chemoattractant properties of cytokines. Lopes Pinheiro MA, Garcia-Vallejo JJ, van het Hof B, Wierts L, O'Toole T, Verstege M, van der Pol SM, van Kooyk Y, de Vries HE, Unger WW. Uptake, processing and presentation of myelin-derived antigens by brain endothelial cells facilitates antigen-specific T cell migration . Elife Sciences : 2016; 5: e13149. DOI: 10.7554 / eLife.13149 Mizee MR, Nijland PG, van der Pol SM, Drexhage JA, van Het Hof B, Mebius R, van der Valk P, van Horssen J, Reijerkerk A, de Vries HE. Astrocyte-derived retinoic acid: a novel regulator of blood-brain barrier function in multiple sclerosis . ACTA Neuropathologica 2014 128: 691-703 Kooij G, Kopplin K, Blasig R, Penny M, King N, Goverse G, van der Pol SM, van Het Hof B, Gollasch M, Drexhage JA, Reijerkerk A, Meij IC, Mebius R, Willnow TE, Müller D, Blasig IE, de Vries HE. Disturbed function of the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier aggravates neuro-inflammation. ACTA Neuropathol 2014; 128: 267–277. Carrano A, Snkhchyan H, Kooij G, van der Pol S, van Horssen J, Veerhuis R, Hoozemans J, Rozemuller A, de Vries HE. ABC transporters P-gp and BCRP are reduced in capillary cerebral amyloid angiopathy . Neurobiol Aging . 2014; 35: 565-75 Reijerkerk A, Lopez-Ramirez MA, van Het Hof B, Drexhage JA, Kamphuis WW, Kooij G, Vos JB, van der Pouw Kraan TC, van Zonneveld AJ, Horrevoets AJ, Prat A, Romero IA, de Vries HE. MicroRNAs at the inflamed brain endothelial cell barrier, implications for multiple sclerosis . J Neuroscience 2013, 33: 6857-6863