Department of Neurology, University Hospital Brno, Jihlavska 20, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic.
J Neurol Sci. 2012 Aug 15;319(1-2):18-23. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2012.05.036. Epub 2012 Jun 5.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease characterized by demyelination and chronic inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS). Many of the immune cells including T and B cells seem to be involved in disease pathogenesis by inducing or controlling the immune responses in the nervous system of MS patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the differences in subpopulations of T cells between MS patients and healthy controls and the effects of interferon beta (INF-beta) and glatiramer acetate (GA) treatment on T cell subpopulations.
We have investigated the frequency of subpopulations of T cells using flow cytometry in 84 relapsing-remitting MS patients; forty-five patients started treatment with INF-beta and eighteen patients with GA, twenty-one patients were not treated. We collected blood samples at the beginning and after 6 and 12 months.
We observed a significant decrease in CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg cells (p=0.03) and a significant increase in T helper cells (p=0.002) and central memory T cells (p=0.03) in MS patients compared to healthy controls. After INF-beta therapy, we demonstrated a significant increase in naive T cells (p=0.008), a decline in central memory T cells (p=0.01). After GA therapy, we observed a significant increase in naive T cells (p=0.04), a decrease in central memory T cells (p=0.03) and an increase in T-suppressor cells (p=0.008).
In conclusion, we demonstrated the imbalance of T-cell subpopulations in MS patients and the potential benefit of DMD (disease modifying drugs) treatment on its restoration.
多发性硬化症（MS）是一种以中枢神经系统（CNS）脱髓鞘和慢性炎症为特征的慢性疾病。许多免疫细胞，包括 T 细胞和 B 细胞，似乎通过在 MS 患者的神经系统中诱导或控制免疫反应而参与疾病的发病机制。本研究的目的是评估 MS 患者与健康对照组之间 T 细胞亚群的差异，以及干扰素-β（INF-β）和醋酸格拉替雷（GA）治疗对 T 细胞亚群的影响。
我们使用流式细胞术调查了 84 例复发缓解型 MS 患者 T 细胞亚群的频率；45 例患者开始接受 INF-β治疗，18 例患者接受 GA 治疗，21 例患者未接受治疗。我们在开始时以及治疗后 6 个月和 12 个月采集了血液样本。
与健康对照组相比，我们观察到 MS 患者中 CD4+CD25+Treg 细胞显著减少（p=0.03），辅助性 T 细胞和中央记忆 T 细胞显著增加（p=0.002，p=0.03）。在接受 INF-β治疗后，我们证明了幼稚 T 细胞显著增加（p=0.008），中央记忆 T 细胞减少（p=0.01）。在接受 GA 治疗后，我们观察到幼稚 T 细胞显著增加（p=0.04），中央记忆 T 细胞减少（p=0.03）和 T 抑制细胞增加（p=0.008）。
总之，我们证明了 MS 患者 T 细胞亚群失衡，以及 DMD（疾病修饰药物）治疗对其恢复的潜在益处。
