Vinicius Mendes Vidal

@ufrj.br

Laboratorio Multidisciplinar de Pesquisa, Faculdade de Medicina, Hospital Universitario Clementino Fraga Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Vinicius Mendes Vidal


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https://researchid.co/viniciusmendesvidal

RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS

Immunology
6

Scopus Publications

Scopus Publications

  • The different meanings of tolerating the gut microbiome
    Vinicius Mendes Vidal, Elena Montes-Cobos, Fábio B. Canto, Marcelo Torres Bozza
    Mbio, 2026
    Multicellular life arose in a world dominated by microorganisms, a reality that has imposed a constant and pervasive selective pressure on all subsequent complex organisms. The immune system has been historically defined by its role in pathogen clearance through resistance mechanisms. However, a complementary and equally critical strategy is to enable the peaceful and inevitable coexistence with microorganisms, allowing each host species to shelter a unique associated microbiome. The term tolerance holds multiple meanings in immunology, yet all underlie a balanced and cooperative host-microorganism relationship. Each represents a different aspect of how the immune system limits tissue damage while maintaining functionality in the presence of microbial or inflammatory stimuli. Using the intestinal mucosa as a paradigm, we explore how epithelial barrier integrity, toxin neutralization, tissue repair, and stress response underpin disease tolerance; how microbial exposure calibrates innate immunity via epigenetic and metabolic reprogramming (LPS tolerance); and how the gut microenvironment fosters the generation of tolerogenic antigen-presenting cells and microbe-specific regulatory T cells to enforce immunological tolerance. We further explore how the microbiota itself is a potent inducer of these tolerogenic pathways and highlight IL-10 as a major hub, connecting different tolerogenic circuits. Finally, we examine the hygiene hypothesis, arguing that lifestyle changes during the Anthropocene disrupt these finely tuned tolerance mechanisms, thereby contributing to the rising incidence of immune-mediated diseases. We posit that these tolerance programs are fundamental prerequisites for engendering host-microbiota symbiosis, a relationship forged over millennia of co-evolution and endangered in the contemporary world.
  • A global survey of taxa-metabolic associations across mouse microbiome communities
    Bahtiyar Yilmaz, Isabel Baertschi, Karin H.U. Meier, Constance Le Gac, Sebastian B.U. Jordi, Caitlin Black, Jiaqi Li, Anna K. Lindholm, Pinar Ciftci, Julian Evans, Bruce Boatman, Sarah C.L. Knowles, Eveliina Hanski, John F. Baines, Peter J. Cowan, Fabio Grassi, Sara Maffei, Marcelo T. Bozza, Vinicius M. Vidal, Arthur Kaser, Lorraine M. Holland, Raffaella Gozzelino, Silvia Cardoso, Pilar Martín, Cecile Fremond, Patricia Lopes, Rui M. Costa, Ana Mafalda Vicente, Yuuki Obata, Vassilis Pachnis, Ali Altıntaş, Lewin Small, Ali Adnan, Mathias Heikenwalder, Sandra Offner, Didier Trono, Sinem Karaman, Myrto Denaxa, Omar Mossad, Marco Prinz, Thomas Blank, Mirko Trajkovski, Dorothée Rigo, Andy Wullaert, Lars Vereecke, Wendy S. Garrett, Sena Bae, Viktoria Jeney, Sofia Lamas, Bruno Silva-Santos, Natacha Gonçalves-Sousa, Ilker Karacan, Sebastian Weis, Daniel Kariuki, Ewoud N. Speksnijder, Iqbal Hamza, Maria Rescigno, Michela Lizier, Andrea Cerutti, Emilie K. Grasset, Fiona Powrie, Claire Pearson, Lilian Lam, Jerzy Kotlinowski, Sin-Hyeog Im, Hiroshi Ohno, Takashi Kanaya, George M.H. Birchenough, Stephanie Claudinot, Pascalle L.P. Van Loo, Marco Cassano, Zuri Sullivan, Sven Pettersson, Kwan Soon Kim, Aikaterini Nanou, Hai Li, Barbara König, Uwe Sauer, Jörg Stelling, Andrew J. Macpherson
    Cell Host and Microbe, 2025
    Host-microbiota mutualism is rooted in the exchange of dietary and metabolic molecules. Microbial diversity broadens the metabolite pool, with each taxon contributing distinct compounds in varying proportions. In the human microbiome, high variability in consortial composition is largely compensated by similar metabolic functions across different taxa. However, the extent of compensation in lower diversity mouse models, and whether vivaria are metabolically equivalent, is unknown. We provide a searchable resource of microbiome composition variability across 51 murine vivaria and 12 wild mouse colonies worldwide, with vivarium-specific variants mapped according to predicted 3D structures for each microbial species. Our matched metabolomics data show that realized metabolic potential has relatively low variability, providing functional evidence for metabolic compensation. Additionally, variability is related to taxonomic composition rather than vivarium, revealing taxa-metabolite associations that are potentially relevant to phenotypic differences between vivaria. Collectively, this resource offers tools to strengthen microbiome studies and collaborative science.
  • Bactericidal and anti-inflammatory effects of Moquilea tomentosa Benth. flavonoid-rich leaf extract
    Mariana Freire Campos, Leopoldo Clemente Baratto, Vinícius Mendes Vidal, Ivana Ventura Nascimento, Brendo Araujo Gomes, Genes de Lima Martins Neto, Priscilla Christina Olsen, Rodrigo Ribeiro Tarjano Leo, Lilian Oliveira Moreira
    BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, 2023
    Background Natural products are an important source of bioproducts with pharmacological properties. Here we investigate the components of leaves from M. tomentosa Benth. (Fritsch) (Chrysobalanaceae) and its effects on bacterial cell growth, biofilm production and macrophage activity. Methods The effect of the different leaf extracts against bacterial cell growth was performed using the microdilution method. The most active extract was analyzed by mass spectrometry, and its effect on bacterial biofilm production was evaluated on polystyrene plates. The extract effect on macrophage activity was tested in the RAW264.7 cell line, which was stimulated with different concentrations of the extract in the presence or absence of LPS. Results We show that the ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extract was the most effective against bacterial cell growth. EtOAc extract DI-ESI (-)MSn analysis showed the presence of a glycosylated flavonoid tentatively assigned as myricetin 3-O-xylosyl-rhamnoside (MW 596). Also, the EtOAc extract increased biofilm formation by S. aureus and inhibited cytokine and NO production induced by LPS in RAW macrophages. Conclusion M. tomentosa flavonoid-enriched EtOAc extract presented a bactericidal and anti-inflammatory pharmacological potential.
  • Oligosymptomatic long-term carriers of SARS-CoV-2 display impaired innate resistance but increased high-affinity anti-spike antibodies
    Elena Montes-Cobos, Victoria C. Bastos, Clarice Monteiro, João C.R. de Freitas, Heiny D.P. Fernandes, Clarice S. Constancio, Danielle A.S. Rodrigues, Andreza M.D.S. Gama, Vinicius M. Vidal, Leticia S. Alves, Laura Zalcberg-Renault, Guilherme S. de Lira, Victor A. Ota, Carolina Caloba, Luciana Conde, Isabela C. Leitão, Amilcar Tanuri, Orlando D.C. Ferreira, Renata M. Pereira, André M. Vale, Terezinha M. Castiñeiras, Dominique Kaiserlian, Juliana Echevarria-Lima, Marcelo T. Bozza
    Iscience, 2023
    The vast spectrum of clinical features of COVID-19 keeps challenging scientists and clinicians. Low resistance to infection might result in long-term viral persistence, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we studied the immune response of immunocompetent COVID-19 patients with prolonged SARS-CoV-2 infection by immunophenotyping, cytokine and serological analysis. Despite viral loads and symptoms comparable to regular mildly symptomatic patients, long-term carriers displayed weaker systemic IFN-I responses and fewer circulating pDCs and NK cells at disease onset. Type 1 cytokines remained low, while type-3 cytokines were in turn enhanced. Of interest, we observed no defects in antigen-specific cytotoxic T cell responses, and circulating antibodies displayed higher affinity against different variants of SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein in these patients. The identification of distinct immune responses in long-term carriers adds up to our understanding of essential host protective mechanisms to ensure tissue damage control despite prolonged viral infection.
  • MIF is essential to the establishment of house dust mite-induced airway inflammation and tissue remodeling in mice
    Leticia Lintomen, Luciana M. Kluppel, Jamil Z. Kitoko, Elena Montes‐Cobos, Vinícius M. Vidal, Luis B. Tan, José Nazioberto de Farias, Heitor S. de Souza, Priscilla C. Olsen, Marcelo T. Bozza
    European Journal of Immunology, 2023
    Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is present in high amounts in the BALF and serum of asthmatic patients, contributing to the pathogenesis of experimental asthma induced by OVA in mice. Whether MIF contributes to the physiopathology on a more complex and relevant asthma model has not been characterized. Mif‐deficient (Mif−/−) or WT mice treated with anti‐MIF antibody were challenged multiple times using house dust mite (HDM) extract by the intranasal route. HDM‐challenged Mif−/− mice presented decreased airway hyperresponsiveness, lung infiltration of eosinophils, mucus hypersecretion, and subepithelial fibrosis compared to HDM‐challenged WT mice. Amounts of IL‐4, IL‐5, and IL‐13 were decreased in the lungs of Mif−/− mice upon HDM challenges, but the increase of CCL11 was preserved, compared to HDM‐challenged WT mice. We also observed increased numbers of group 2 innate lymphoid cells and Th2 cells in the BALF and mediastinal LNs (mLN)‐induced challenged by HDM of WT mice, but not in HDM‐challenged Mif−/− mice. Anti‐MIF treatment abrogated the airway infiltration of eosinophils, mucus hypersecretion, and subepithelial fibrosis in the lungs of HDM‐challenged mice. In conclusion, MIF ablation prevents the pathologic hallmarks of asthma in HDM‐challenged mice, reinforcing the promising target of MIF for asthma therapy.
  • The re-emergency and persistence of vaccine preventable diseases
    RODRIGO C.N. BORBA, VINÍCIUS M. VIDAL, LILIAN O. MOREIRA
    Anais Da Academia Brasileira De Ciencias, 2015
    The introduction of vaccination worldwide dramatically reduced the incidence of pathogenic bacterial and viral diseases. Despite the highly successful vaccination strategies, the number of cases among vaccine preventable diseases has increased in the last decade and several of those diseases are still endemic in different countries. Here we discuss some epidemiological aspects and possible arguments that may explain why ancient diseases such as, measles, polio, pertussis, diphtheria and tuberculosis are still with us.