Gillet Laurent, FARAH ULiège "Immunity and Neuroinflammation"

Monday 29 Sep 2025, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Brussels

B-30/0-000 - Big meeting room (CRC)

Viral infections are increasingly recognized as key environmental drivers of chronic neurological and immune-mediated diseases. Recent population-level studies have shown strong associations between viral exposures and long-term risk of neurodegeneration, with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) identified as the most compelling risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS). At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the neurological consequences of viral infections, as long COVID affects ~5% of patients and is often linked to EBV reactivation. Despite these observations, the mechanisms by which viral infections shape long-term immune dysfunction and neuroinflammation remain poorly understood.

Our preliminary work demonstrates that latent herpesvirus infection (MuHV-4, a model for EBV) exacerbates neuroinflammation in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) through recruitment of highly inflammatory monocytes and is associated with profound remodeling of the brain CD8 T cell compartment. Similarly, after SARS-CoV-2, long-term changes appear in microglial and brain CD8 T cells in MuHV-4 infected mice. Similarly, we observed that patients with evidence of EBV infection displayed an increased prevalence of neurological manifestations, including fatigue, during the early weeks following SARS-CoV-2 infection.

In the future, by using preclinical models and patient cohort studies, we want to dissect how viral persistence and reactivation reprogram monocytes and their crosstalk with T cells, leading to long-term CNS dysfunction. By identifying shared mechanisms across post-viral syndromes, including MS and long COVID, we aim to uncover novel therapeutic targets and inform preventive strategies, such as vaccination or monocyte-directed interventions, to mitigate chronic neuroinflammatory disease.

BIO: Laurent Gillet is Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the ULiège, where he teaches animal viral diseases and leads a research laboratory on virus–host immune interactions. He obtained his veterinary degree in 2001 and PhD in 2005 at ULiège, followed by postdoctoral training at the University of Cambridge (2005–2007) on murine models of gammaherpesvirus infection. Returning to ULiège, he was appointed Research Associate of the F.R.S.–FNRS in 2008, Assistant Professor in 2012, and Full Professor in 2019. His research focuses on antiviral immunity and interindividual variation in immune responses. Author of more than 125 publications, he has received several distinctions, including the Princess Joséphine Charlotte Research Prize in Fundamental Virology (2013).

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