Ray Avijit, Basu Sreemanti
BloodCenter of Wisconsin, Blood Research Institute, 2178, Milwaukee, WI, 53201-2178, USA,
Methods Mol Biol. 2014;1190:243-55. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-1161-5_17.
B cells are thought to play a pathogenic role in multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS). This idea is supported by the reduction of disease in MS patients undergoing antibody-mediated B cell depletion therapy. In contrast, in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a mouse model of MS, B cells have been shown to play a regulatory role. This is suggestive of a dual role for B cells in CNS autoimmunity. It is possible that a critical balance between the pathogenic and regulatory populations of B cells might be involved in the manifestation of the disease. Although in mice, different B cell subsets have been shown to exert immunoregulation through varied mechanisms, the phenotype of regulatory B cells in humans and factors affecting their function are not well known. Also, the origin and development of regulatory B cells is not known. It is important to thoroughly identify the different populations of B cells that might be involved in suppressing CNS autoimmunity, their mode of function and factors that regulate their immunosuppressive properties for using regulatory B cells as a therapy for MS. Here we present methods to study the phenotype and mechanisms of immune suppression by B cells in different mouse models of EAE.
B细胞被认为在多发性硬化症（MS）中发挥致病作用，MS是一种影响中枢神经系统（CNS）的自身免疫性疾病。接受抗体介导的B细胞清除疗法的MS患者病情减轻，这支持了这一观点。相比之下，在实验性自身免疫性脑脊髓炎（EAE）（一种MS的小鼠模型）中，B细胞已被证明发挥调节作用。这表明B细胞在中枢神经系统自身免疫中具有双重作用。疾病的表现可能涉及B细胞致病群体和调节群体之间的关键平衡。虽然在小鼠中，不同的B细胞亚群已被证明通过多种机制发挥免疫调节作用，但人类调节性B细胞的表型及其功能影响因素尚不清楚。此外，调节性B细胞的起源和发育也不清楚。全面识别可能参与抑制中枢神经系统自身免疫的不同B细胞群体、它们的功能模式以及调节其免疫抑制特性的因素，对于将调节性B细胞用作MS的治疗方法至关重要。在此，我们介绍了在不同的EAE小鼠模型中研究B细胞免疫抑制表型和机制的方法。
